Methods for multiplexing recombinase polymerase amplification

ABSTRACT

This disclosure provides for methods and reagents for rapid multiplex RPA reactions and improved methods for detection of multiplex RPA reaction products. In addition, the disclosure provides new methods for eliminating carryover contamination between RPA processes.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/988,825 filed Jun. 2, 2009, which is a National Stage Application of PCT/IB06/04113 filed Jul. 25, 2006, and claims the benefit of priority from U.S. Application No. 60/702,533 filed Jul. 25, 2005 and U.S. Application No. 60/728,424 filed Oct. 18, 2005. The contents of the prior applications are incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

Recombinase Polymerase Amplification (RPA) is a DNA amplification process that utilizes enzymes to match synthetic oligonucleotide primers to their complementary partners in duplex DNA. (Armes and Stemple, U.S. patent Appl. 60/358,563 filed Feb. 21, 2002). RPA depends upon components of the cellular DNA replication and repair machinery. The notion of employing some of this machinery for in vitro DNA amplification has existed for some time (Zarling et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,223,414), however the concept has not transformed to a working technology until recently as, despite a long history of research in the area of recombinase function involving principally the E. coli recA protein, in vitro conditions permitting sensitive amplification of DNA have only recently been determined (Piepenburg et al. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/931,916 filed Sep. 1, 2004, also Piepenburg et al., PlosBiology 2006).

RPA offers a number of advantages over traditional methods of DNA amplification. These advantages include the lack of a need for any initial thermal or chemical melting, the ability to operate at low constant temperatures without a need for absolute temperature control, as well as the observation that complete reactions (lacking target) can be stored in a dried condition. These characteristics demonstrate that RPA is a uniquely powerful tool for developing portable, accurate, and instrument-free nucleic acid detection tests.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to methods of nucleic acid amplification which include novel recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) protocols for rapid and efficient amplification of nucleic acids in a process that can be easily multiplexed.

One embodiment of the invention is directed to a method wherein a plurality of RPA which can be performed simultaneously in a single reaction (in a single tube) and wherein the results may be detected simultaneously. The single RPA reaction is described first below and methods of multiplexing said reaction is described second.

One aspect of the invention is directed to methods of RPA which generates easily detectable amplimers (an amplified nucleic acid which is the product of an RPA reaction). The RPA process amplified a double stranded target nucleic acid molecule comprising a first and a second strand of DNA. Step (a) involves contacting a recombinase agent with a first and a second nucleic acid primer and a third extension blocked primer which comprises one or more noncomplementary or modified internal residue to form a first, second and third nucleoprotein primer. Step (b) involves contacting the first and second nucleoprotein primers to said double stranded target nucleic acid thereby forming a first double stranded structure between said first nucleoprotein primer and said first strand of DNA at a first portion of said first strand (forming a D loop) and a second double stranded structure between said second nucleoprotein primer and said second strand of DNA at a second portion of said second strand (forming a D loop) such that the 3′ ends of said first nucleoprotein primer and said first nucleoprotein primer are oriented toward each other on the same target nucleic acid molecule with a third portion of target nucleic acid between said 3′ ends; Step (c) involves extending the 3′ end of said first nucleoprotein primer and second nucleoprotein primer with one or more polymerases and dNTPs to generate a first amplified target nucleic acid with an internal region comprising the third portion of nucleic acid. Step (d) involves contacting said amplified target nucleic acid to said third nucleoprotein primer to form a third double stranded structure at the third portion of said amplified target nucleic acid (forming a D loop) in the presences of a nuclease; wherein said nuclease specifically cleaves said noncomplementary internal residue only after the formation of said third double stranded structure to form a third 5′ primer and a third 3′ extension blocked primer. Step (d) involves extending the 3′ end of said third 5′ primer with one or more polymerase and dNTP to generate a second double stranded amplified nucleic acid which comprises said first nucleic acid primer and said third 5′ primer. The RPA reaction is continued until a desired degree of the second double stranded amplified nucleic acid is reached. It should be noted that this process, along with any related embodiments, may be used for multiplex RPA reaction (described below).

The recombinase agent may be, for example, uvsX, RecA and functional analogs thereof. Further, the RPA reaction may be performed in the presence of uvxY, gp32, single strand binding proteins and other usual RPA reagents. Methods for performing RPA are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Appl. 60/358,563 filed Feb. 21, 2002, U.S. application Ser. No. 10/371,641, filed Feb. 21, 2003, 2003, U.S. pat. application Ser. No. 10/931,916 filed Sep. 1, 2004 and PCT/IB2005/001560 (WO2005/118853) filed Apr. 11, 2005.

The nuclease used in this RPA reaction should specifically cleave the noncomplementary residue or the modified internal residue preferentially when the third extension blocked primer is hybridized to a DNA to form a double stranded structure. It is preferred that the nuclease do not cleave the noncomplementary residue or the modified internal residue when the extension blocked primer is in single stranded form—regardless of whether the primer is attached to recombinase or SSB. In a preferred embodiment, the nuclease is a DNA glycosylase or AP endonuclease. If the modified internal residue is a uracil or inosine, the preferred nuclease is uracil glycosylase or hypoxanthine-DNA glycosylase respectively. The nuclease may recognize the noncomplementary base by nature of a mismatch which forms a region of noncomplementary residues (i.e., a bubble) in an otherwise double stranded structure. In this case, the nuclease recognizes a base mismatch between the noncomplementary residues and cleaves primer at the noncomplementary base.

The nuclease used in any of the processes of the invention may be a DNA glycosylase or an AP endonuclease. The nuclease may function by recognizing a base mismatch between said first extension blocked primer and said target nucleic acid and cleaving the extension blocked primer at the base mismatch without cleaving the target nucleic acid. The nuclease, alternatively, may recognize a damaged residue, an abasic site or abasic site mimic, or any other modification which may be incorporated into synthetic oligonucleotides. The nuclease may be, for example, fpg, Nth, MutY, MutS, MutM, E. coli. MUG, human MUG, human Ogg1, a vertebrate Nei-like (Neil) glycosylases, Nfo, exonuclease III, uracil glycosylase, hypoxanthine-DNA and functional analogs and homologs thereof. The functional analogs and homologs may be of any mammalian, bacterial or viral original. As additional examples, if the modified base is inosine, the nuclease may be hypoxanthine-DNA glycosylase; if the modified base is uracil, the nuclease may be uracil glycosylase. In a preferred embodiment, these nucleases may be from E. coli. In a preferred embodiment, the nuclease is E. coli Nfo or E. coli exonuclease III and the modified internal residue is a tetrahydrofuran residue or a linker group. A ‘linker’ (also called a carbon linker or ‘spacer’) is a carbon-containing chain which is used to join the 3′ position of one sugar to the (usually) 5′ position of another. Common spacers may comprise about 3, 6, 9, 12 or 18 carbon chains although it may be of any number of carbon chains. Carbon-oxygen-carbon linkages are common in these spacers, presumably to reduce hydrophobicity. Nfo and exonuclease III (and homologs) can recognize the sugar 3′-O—C linkage on the 3′ end of a nucleotide linked to a spacer and cleave it. See, for example, C18 spacer (18-O-Dimethoxytritylhexaethyleneglycol, 1-[(2-cyanoethyl)-(N,N-diisopropyl)]-phosphoramidite (Glen Research, Sterling, Va., USA, cat#10-1918-90).

As used herein, an “abasic residue” in an oligonucleotide refers to a molecular fragment (MF) within an oligonucleotide chain where the molecular fragment approximates the length of a ribofuranose or a deoxyribofuranose sugar in such a way that bases adjacent to the molecular fragment are separated from one another by the same, or effectively the same, distance as if a ribofuranose or a deoxyribofuranose sugar of any of A, G, C, T, or U were present in place of the abasic residue. The abasic residue may incorporate a ribofuranose or deoxyribofuranose ring as in native A, G, C, T, or U. However, the abasic residue does not contain a base or other molecule that can interact with the base on the opposite strand of a duplex which is formed with the abasic residue-containing oligonucleotide. Thus, an abasic residue may be an apurine or apyrimidine structure, a base analog, or an analogue of a phosphate backbone. The abasic substitution may also consist of a backbone of N-(2-aminoethyl)-glycine linked by amide bonds. In a preferred embodiment, the abasic residue is tetrahydrofuran or D-spacer (a type of tetrahydrofuran). Both a D-spacer and tetrahydrofuran effectively are a deoxyribose sugar in which both the 1′ and 2′ position lack OH residues. Normally the 1′ position of a true abasic residue in DNA would have a hydroxyl in the position where the base is normally attached, however this is unstable as the ring form interconverts with an open-ring aldehyde form (see below) which can then degrade by the process of beta-elimination. Removal of this hydroxyl leads to a stable form readily synthesized into oligonucleotides. Tetrahydrofuran-type abasic sites and their use as abasic residues are known. The tetrahydrofuran may be placed into oligonucleotides during synthesis by ordering reagents from Glen Research (Sterling, Va., USA).

The one or more noncomplementary or modified internal residue is internal because it is not the 5′ most or 3′ most residue of the first extension blocked primer. In a preferred embodiment, the one or more noncomplementary internal residue is at least 10 residues away from the 5′ or 3′ residue of a primer. In a more preferred embodiment, the one or more noncomplementary internal residue is at least 15, or at least 20 residues away from the 5′ or 3′ residue of a primer.

The one or more noncomplementary internal residue may be introduced by synthesizing an oligonucleotide primer with one or more noncomplementary residue. A noncomplementary residue is any residue that does not form a Watson Crick base pair (hydrogen bond) with its corresponding residue in a double stranded structure. For example, if a “T” at a particular location is needed to form a Watson-Crick base pair between a primer and a target nucleic acid, the use of an “A” would cause the “A” to be non complementary. As a further example, each of the middle bases in the following double stranded structure is a noncomplementary base.

It is known that the presence of noncomplementary residues in a double stranded nucleic acid will produce a bubble within the double stranded nucleic acid. While one noncomplementary or modified internal residue is sufficient for functioning with the methods of the invention, more than one noncomplementary or modified internal residues may be used. When more than one is used, they may adjacent to each other on an oligonucleotide or they may be separated. It should be noted that if the nuclease cleaves the target nucleic acid at the mismatch or noncomplementary location, the target DNA is repaired rapidly by dNTP and polymerase using the primer as a template. Because of this, this reaction would not affect the processes of this disclosure.

The one or more noncomplementary internal residue of the first extension blocked primer may be a modified internal residue. The modified internal residue may be any chemical structure (residue) that cannot form a Watson-Crick base pairing structure with its corresponding base in a double stranded nucleic acid structure. If more than one noncomplementary internal residue is used, they can be a mixture of noncomplementary internal residues or modified internal residues. The term “modified internal residue,” also includes, at least, any residue not normally found in DNA—that is any residue which is not an “A”, “G”, “C” or “T” such as, for example uracil or inosine.

The modified internal residue may be inosine, uracil, 8-oxoguanine, thymine glycol, or an abasic site mimic. Preferred abasic site mimics include a tetrahydrofuran residue or D-spacer (which can be produced as a product of employing a 5′-O-Dimethoxytrityl-1′,2′-Dideoxyribose-3′-[(2-cyanoethyl)-(N,N-diisopropyl)]-phosphoramidite during oligonucleotide synthesis.

The extension blocked primer is blocked at its 3′ end so that it cannot normally be elongated by polymerase and dNTP even in the presence of a complimentary template. Methods of blocking a primer are well known and include, at least, the inclusion of a blocked 3′ nucleotide. The blocked 3′ nucleotide may contain, for example, a blocking group that prevents polymerase extension. Generally, the blocking groups are attached to the 3′ or 2′ site of the 3′ sugar residue but other locations of attachments are possible. One of the most common 3′ blocking methods is to place a dideoxy sugar at the 3′ end of an oligonucleotide. The blocking group may be, for example, a detectable label.

A detectable label is defined as any moiety that may be detected using current methods. These labels include, at least, a fluorophore (also called a fluorescent molecule, fluorochrome), an enzyme, a quencher, an enzyme inhibitor, a radioactive label, a member of a binding pair, a digoxygenin residue, a peptide, and a combination thereof.

“A member of a binding pair” is meant to be one of a first and a second moiety, wherein said first and said second moiety have a specific binding affinity for each other. Suitable binding pairs for use in the invention include, but are not limited to, antigens/antibodies (for example, digoxigenin/anti-digoxigenin, dinitrophenyl (DNP)/anti-DNP, dansyl-X-anti-dansyl, Fluorescein/anti-fluorescein, lucifer yellow/anti-lucifer yellow, peptide/anti-peptide, ligand/receptor and rhodamine/anti-rhodamine), biotin/avidin (or biotin/streptavidin) and calmodulin binding protein (CBP)/calmodulin. Other suitable binding pairs include polypeptides such as the FLAG-peptide (DYKDDDDK; SEQ ID NO:7) [Hopp et al., BioTechnology, 6:1204 1210 (1988)]; the KT3 epitope peptide (Martin et al., Science 255:192 194 (1992)); tubulin epitope peptide (Skinner et al., J. Biol. Chem 266:15163 15166 (1991)); and the T7 gene 10 protein peptide tag (Lutz-Freyermuth et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 87:6393 6397 (1990)) and the antibodies each thereto. Generally, in a preferred embodiment, the smaller of the binding pair partners serves as the detectable label, as steric considerations may be important. In addition to the above, any of the nucleic acid and nucleotides of the RPA reaction may be labeled with a detectable label.

In any of the RPA processes of the invention where a detectable label is used, the detectable label may be used to monitor the progress (the production of amplimers) of the RPA reaction. In one aspect, if the primers are labeled, monitoring may involve detecting a label in an amplimer. Since amplimers would be expected to be larger than the primers used, detection may involve, for example gel electrophoresis and the detection of the proper sized amplimer. Alternatively, labeled amplimers may be separated by labeled primers by a more rapid process such as column chromatography (including spin columns, push columns and the like). Since the RPA methods of the invention has high specificity and low artifact production (high signal to noise), monitoring may involve performing RPA using nucleotides attached to detectable labels and measuring the amount of labels attached to high molecular weight nucleic acid (e.g., nucleic acid of more than 100 bases in length). For example, radioactive dNTPs may be used and the progress of the RPA reaction may be monitored by following the incorporation of radiation into high molecular weight DNA. Techniques that monitor incorporation of nucleotides into high molecular weight DNA include gel electrophoresis, size exclusion column (e.g., conventional, spin and push columns) and acid precipitation.

If the first nucleic acid primer and the third 5′ primer are each labeled with a different detectable label, then the amplified product (the second double stranded amplified nucleic acid) will be the only nucleic acid species with both labels. This double labeled nucleic acid species may be detected by a variety of means. In one preferred method, the amplified product may be detected using a flow strip. In one preferred embodiment, one detectable label produces a color and the second label is an epitope which is recognized by an immobilized antibody. A product containing both labels will attach to an immobilized antibody and produce a color at the location of the immobilized antibody. An assay based on this detection method may be, for example, a flow strip (dip stick) which can be applied to the whole RPA reaction. A positive amplification will produce a band on the flow strip while a negative amplification would not produce any color band.

It should be noted that this RPA amplification process using 3 primers may be multiplexed (referred to herein as multiplex RPA). That is, multiple RPA process using 3 primers, as discussed above, may be performed in the same reaction (tube). Multiplex RPA may be performed with one or more target nucleic acids. Each process is performed with a different combination of first and second nucleic acid primers which is specific for a different region of one or more target nucleic acids. In a preferred embodiment, when multiple RPA processes are performed in the same reaction, each RPA process uses a first nucleic acid with the same label but not necessarily the same sequence. Further, each process uses the same third extension blocked primer with a second detectable label. In this way, by measuring the accumulation of double stranded nucleic acid product with both the first detectable label and the second detectable label, the cumulative amplification of each RPA process may be measured.

Multiplexed RPA is useful for many purposes. For example, multiple pathogens may share a common nucleic acid sequence that is too small for direct amplification by RPA. Furthermore, the common nucleic acid sequence have different flanking sequence in each organism so that a single set of RPA primers cannot be designed to amplify this common nucleic acid sequence in multiple organisms. Using the process of multiplex RPA as described above, a plurality of combination of RPA primers may be used in one reaction, wherein each combination would amplify the common nucleic acid sequence in one organism and this common nucleic acid sequence would be concomitantly amplified by the common third primer (third extension blocked primer). Multiplex RPA with primer combinations designed to detect multiple pathogens, may be used for example, in an assay to detect methicillin resistant S. aureus strains by amplifying and detecting a common sequence (e.g., mec2) in each strain. By using the multiplexed RPA of the invention, a plurality of loci (DNA sequences) may be detected by concurrent RPA amplification. In a preferred embodiment, at least 2 simultaneous RPA are performed in an RPA. In a more preferred embodiment, at least 3, at least 5, at least 7 or at least 10 RPA reactions may be performed in the same tube.

Thus, another aspect of the invention is directed to a multiplex method of RPA comprising the steps of performing more than one RPA process in one reaction. Each individual reaction is performed as described above for RPA using 3 primers. Briefly, each reaction involves the steps of (a1) contacting a recombinase agent with a first and a second nucleic acid primer and a third extension blocked primer which comprises a noncomplementary or modified internal residue to form a first, second and third nucleoprotein primer; (a2) contacting the first and second nucleoprotein primers to said double stranded target nucleic acid thereby forming a first double stranded structure between said first nucleoprotein primer and said first strand of DNA at a first portion of said first strand and a second double stranded structure between said second nucleoprotein primer and said second strand of DNA at a second portion of said second strand such that the 3′ ends of said first nucleoprotein primer and said first nucleoprotein primer are oriented toward each other on the same target nucleic acid molecule with a third portion of nucleic acid between said 3′ ends; (a3) extending the 3′ end of said first nucleoprotein primer and second nucleoprotein primer with one or more polymerases and dNTPs to generate a first amplified target nucleic acid with an internal region comprising the third portion of nucleic acid; (a4) contacting said amplified target nucleic acid to said third nucleoprotein primer to form a third double stranded structure at the third portion of said amplified target nucleic acid in the presences of a nuclease; wherein said nuclease specifically cleaves said noncomplementary or modified internal residue only after the formation of said third double stranded structure to form a third 5′ primer and a third 3′ extension blocked primer; (a5) extending the 3′ end of said third 5′ primer to generate a second double stranded amplified nucleic acid which comprises said first nucleic acid primer and said third 5′ primer; (a6) continuing the reaction through repetition of (a2) and (a5) until a desired degree of the second double stranded amplified nucleic acid is reached. In this process, each RPA process is performed with a different combination of first and second nucleic acid primers but each process is performed with the same third extension blocked primer.

It should be noted that while each RPA process will have a different combination of first and second nucleic acid primers, primers can still be shared between RPA processes. For example, RPA process 1 may use primers 1 and 2 while RPA process 2 may use primers 2 and 3. Thus, RPA process 1 and RPA process 2 share the same primer (primer 2).

In any RPA process that involves an extension blocked primer (e.g., the third extension blocked primer) the primer may further comprises one or more detectable labels and the progress of the RPA may be monitored a second way by monitoring the detectable label on this primer. The detectable label may be a fluorophore, an enzyme, a quencher, an enzyme inhibitor, a radioactive label, one member of a binding pair and a combination of thereof. Where a fluorophore or quencher is used, the attachment may be by a fluorophore-dT amidite residue or a quencher-dT amidite residue.

In a preferred embodiment, the third extension blocked primer comprises a fluorophore and a quencher. The fluorophore and quencher are separated by between 0 to 2 bases, 0 to 5 bases, 0 to 8 bases or 0 to 10 bases, 3 to 5 bases, 6 to 8 bases, or 8 to 10 bases. In addition, the fluorophore and quencher may be separated by a greater distance when the extension blocked primer is unhybridized than when the extension blocked primer is hybridized to the target nucleic acid. Furthermore, the fluorophore or quencher may be attached to the noncomplementary or modified internal residue as long as the fluorophore and quencher are separated following cleavage of the modified internal base by the nuclease. Preferred fluorophores include fluorescein, FAM, TAMRA and preferred quenchers include a dark quencher (e.g., Dark Quencher 1, Dark Quencher 2, Black Hole Quencher 1 and Black Hole Quencher 2).

One advantage of the methods of this RPA process is that it can be performed at a low temperature such as between 14° C. and 21° C., between 21° C. and 25° C., between 25° C. and 30° C., between 30° C. and 37° C. or between, 40° C. and 43° C. Under these temperature conditions, the reaction are accelerated in the presence of 1% to 12% PEG such as between 6% to 8% PEG.

Another advantage of using extension blocked primers, for any of the methods of the invention, is that the progress of the reaction may be monitored in real time. Monitoring may involve, for example, measuring fluorescence in the RPA reaction. In this method, the fluorophore and quencher are located at a sufficiently close distance (less than 10 residues apart, as disclosed in this specification) on the primer such that the quencher prevents fluorescence from the fluorophore. However, as the extension blocked primer is cleaved by the nuclease, the quencher is separated from the fluorophore and the primer becomes fluorescent. This allows the monitoring of RPA in real time, merely by using a light source which can excite the fluorophore to fluoresce and using an optical detector to detect any fluorescence from the fluorophore which has separated from the quencher.

The primers for any of the RPA reactions of this disclosure, including the extension blocked primers, may be between 2 to 100 residues in length, such as between 12 to 30 residues in length, 12 to 40 residues in length, 12 to 50 residues in length, or 12 to 60 residues, 30 to 40 residues in length, 40 to 45 residues in length, or 45 to 50 residues in length. In a preferred embodiment, the primers may be between 30 to 100, between 35 to 100, between 40 to 100 or between 45 to 100 in length. In the most preferred embodiment, the primers are between 30 to 60 in length, between 35 to 60, between 40 to 60 or between 45 to 60 in length—these primers may be used in any RPA reactions and are especially preferred for RPA reactions below 30° C. degrees, below 15° C. degrees or below 20° C. Primers lengths of greater than 30, greater than 35, greater than 40, greater than 45 or greater than 50 bases are preferred for RPA processes performed at or below 30° C. It is understood that in the field of molecular biology, the subunits of a nucleic acid are referred to as “bases” or “residues.” For example, DNA and oligonucleotide structures and lengths are referred to in bases (kilobases), basepairs or residues.

Any of the RPA reaction of the invention may be performed between 14° C. and 21° C., between 21° C. and 25° C., between 25° C. and 30° C., between 30° C. and 37° C., between 38° C. to 40° C. or between 40° C. and 48° C. Applicants have found that RPA reactions are optimal at 25° C. in the presence of between 1% to 12% percent PEG. Preferably, the concentration of PEG is between 6 to 9% such as, for example between 7 to 8%. These optimal RPA conditions applies to the RPA reactions disclosed in this application and to all RPA reactions in general.

In a typical RPA reaction of the invention, at least one strand of the target nucleic acid is amplified at least 10⁷ folds, at least 10⁸ folds or at least 10⁹ folds.

For any of the RPA methods of the invention, it is understood that the target nucleic acid may be single stranded. Single stranded nucleic acid may be converted to double stranded nucleic acid by methods known in the art including, for example, the hybridization of random primers followed by elongation by polymerase. Furthermore, the RPA reaction may be performed directly with single stranded target nucleic acid because in a first step, a RPA primer would hybridize to the single stranded target nucleic acid and extension (in the presence of nuclease in the case of the extension blocked primer) by polymerase and dNTPs would generate a double stranded target nucleic acid for subsequent RPA. Further, a specific primer may be added at the beginning of the RPA reaction to hybridize to the single stranded target nucleic acid and by extension with polymerase already present in the RPA reaction, convert the single stranded target nucleic acid into a double stranded target nucleic acid.

To reduce background and contamination, any of the RPA reactions of the invention may be performed with dUTP in the dNTP mix. We have found, surprisingly, that an RPA may be performed in the presence of dUTP and active uracil glycosylase for a first period before the uracil glycosylase is inactivated. This first period is preferably less than 20 minutes, less than 10 minutes, less than 5 minutes or less than 2 minutes. Furthermore, the uracil glycosylase may be added at any time during the first period. That is, the RPA reaction may be started with dUTP (and other dNTPs) without uracil glycosylase and the uracil glycosylase may be added at any time during the first period.

After the first period, uracil glycosylase inhibitor is added to the RPA reaction and the reaction is allowed to continue for the remainder of the RPA reaction—until a desired degree of amplification is reached. Importantly, the process is performed without temperature based inactivation of the uracil glycosylase. The uracil glycosylase inhibitor in this reaction may be a Bacillus subtilis phages PBS1 uracil glycosylase inhibitor or Bacillus subtilis phages PBS2 uracil glycosylase inhibitor. Where dUTP is used, for any RPA of this disclosure, the dNTP may consist of (1) dTTP, dATP, dUTP, dCTP and dGTP or (2) dATP, dUTP, dCTP and dGTP. In a preferred embodiment, when dUTP is used, the dNTP mixture does not contain dTTP. This method of reducing background, by adding dUTP and uracil glycosylase to a first portion of an RPA reaction has general applicability to any type of RPA. Further, this method may be combined with any of the RPA processes of this disclosure.

Another aspect of the invention relates to a method of performing RPA of a double stranded target nucleic acid molecule comprising a first and a second strand of DNA with an increased signal to noise ratio. In step A, a recombinase agent is contacted with (1) a first extension blocked primer which comprises one or more noncomplementary or modified internal residue which can be a modified internal residue, and (2) a second nucleic acid primer to form a first and a second nucleoprotein primer.

In step B, the first and second nucleoprotein primers are mixed with (contacted to) a nuclease and to the double stranded target nucleic acid such that a first double stranded structure (part of a first D-loop) between the first nucleoprotein primer and said first strand of DNA at a first portion of said first strand is formed. Furthermore, a second double stranded structure (part of a second D loop) between said second nucleoprotein primer and said second strand of DNA at a second portion of said second strand is also formed. The 3′ ends of the first extension blocked primer and said second nucleic acid primer are oriented toward each other on the same double stranded target nucleic acid molecule. The nuclease specifically recognizes and cleaves the one or more noncomplementary or modified internal residue in the first extension blocked primer only after the primer forms a double stranded structure. After cleavage by the nuclease, the first extension blocked primer is cleaved into two primers, a first 5′ primer and a first 3′ extension blocked primer. Because the blocking group is on the 3′ end of the first extension blocked primer, the first 5′ primer is not blocked but the first 3′ extension blocked primer is blocked and cannot be elongated by polymerase.

In step C, the 3′ end of the first 5′ primer and second nucleoprotein primer is extended with one or more polymerases and dNTPs (e.g., a mixture of dATP, dTTP, dCTP, and dGTP) to generate an amplified target nucleic acid. The amplified target nucleic acid may be single stranded (for example a displaced strand) or double stranded. Furthermore, single stranded amplified target nucleic acid may hybridize to form double stranded target nucleic acid. Furthermore, the RPA system of this disclosure can amplify both single stranded target nucleic acid (discussed below) or double stranded target nucleic acid so the production of single stranded or double stranded amplified target nucleic acid would not affect the outcome of RPA.

Step B and step C are repeated until a desired degree of amplification is reached. It should be noted that the RPA reaction is self perpetuating as long as the reagents do not run out. The product of one round of amplification (amplified target nucleic acid) serves as the input for subsequent round of RPA. Thus, an RPA reaction may be continued by merely continued incubation of the reaction at a desired temperature. Furthermore, since the RPA reaction disclosed is not temperature sensitive, the reaction may be continued even if there if fluctuation in the temperature. For example, a RPA reaction tube may be performed in a waterbath, on the bench top (room temperature), or even in the pocket of the experimentor (when working in the field, for example). Thus, the RPA reaction may be performed at less than 50° C., less than 40° C., less than 37° C., less than 30° C., less than 25° C., or less than 20° C.

In a preferred embodiment, the first extension blocked primer further comprises one or more detectable labels. Where the detectable label is a fluorophore or a quencher, it may be attached to the extension blocked primer by a fluorophore-dT amidite residue or quencher-dT amidite residue respectively. Other attachments are possible and widely known.

In another preferred embodiment, the extension blocked primer comprises both a fluorophore and a quencher. The fluorophore and quencher may be separated by between 0 to 2 bases, 0 to 5 bases, 0 to 8 bases or 0 to 10 bases. Naturally, it is preferred that the fluorophore and the quencher be sufficiently close to each other such that the combination is not fluorescent until they are separated. It is preferred that the fluorophore and quencher are separated by a greater distance in the nucleoprotein primer than when the primer is hybridized to the target nucleic acid. This is possible because of the action of the attached proteins (recombinase and/or SSB protein) which tend to stretch out the unhybridized primer.

In another aspect, either fluorophore or the quencher may be attached to the modified internal residue and the fluorophore and quencher can be separated following cleavage of the modified internal residue by the nuclease.

While any fluorophore may function for the methods of the invention, fluorescein, FAM and TAMRA are preferred fluorophores. The preferred quencher is a dark quencher which may be, for example, Dark Quencher 1, Dark Quencher 2, Black Hole Quencher 1 or Black Hole Quencher 2.

Another aspect of the invention is directed to an RPA process of DNA amplification of a single stranded target nucleic acid molecule comprising the steps of (a) hybridizing a first nucleic acid primer to said single stranded target nucleic acid and elongating said primer one or more polymerases and dNTPs to generate a double stranded target nucleic acid molecule comprising a first and a second strand; (b) contacting a recombinase agent with a first extension blocked primer which comprises a noncomplementary internal residue, and a second nucleic acid primer to form a first and a second nucleoprotein primer; (c) contacting the first and second nucleoprotein primers to a nuclease and to said double stranded target nucleic acid thereby forming a first double stranded structure between said first nucleoprotein primer and said first strand of DNA at a first portion of said first strand and a second double stranded structure between said second nucleoprotein primer and said second strand of DNA at a second portion of said second strand such that the 3′ ends of said first extension blocked primer and said second nucleic acid primer are oriented toward each other on the same double stranded target nucleic acid molecule, wherein said nuclease specifically cleaves said modified noncomplementary internal residue only after the formation of said first double stranded structure to form a first 5′ primer and a first 3′ extension blocked primer; (d) extending the 3′ end of said first 5′ primer and second nucleoprotein primer with one or more polymerases and dNTPs to generate an amplified target nucleic acid molecule; (e) continuing the reaction through repetition of (c) and (d) until a desired degree of amplification is reached. As explained above, the first nucleic acid primer may be the first extension blocked primer, said second nucleic acid primer, first nucleoprotein primer or second nucleoprotein primer. Naturally, if the first primer is the first extension blocked primer, step (a) should be performed in the presence of the nuclease. Further, it should be noted that any RPA reaction which uses a single stranded nucleic acid target DNA as a starting material will necessarily go through an intermediate stage where the target nucleic acid is double stranded and would be amplified by double stranded amplification.

Another aspect of the invention is directed to a primer for RPA which is an extension blocked primer of between 12 to 100 residues in length and wherein the primer comprises one or more modified internal residues. This primer may be any of the extension blocked primer, including any variants thereof, described anywhere in this application. Briefly, the modified internal residue is selected from the group consisting of a uracil residue, an inosine residue, 8-oxoguanine, thymine glycol, an abasic site mimic and analogs thereof. The abasic site mimic may be a tetrahydrofuran residue or a 5′-O-Dimethoxytrityl-1′,2′-Dideoxyribose-3′-[(2-cyanoethyl)-(N,N-diisopropyl)]-phosphoramidite (commonly known as a “D-spacer”) and analogs thereof.

The primer is extension blocked and cannot be elongated by polymerase (e.g., Klenow fragment) and dNTP. Methods of blocking a primer from extension are known and are also described in this disclosure. Briefly, the primer may have a blocked 3′ residue. The blocked 3′ residue may be a blocking moiety. The blocking moiety, which optionally may comprise a detectable label, may be attached to the 2′ or 3′ site of the 3′ most residue of the primer. For example, the blocked 3′ residue may be a 2′3′-dideoxy nucleotide.

In another embodiment, the primer comprises one or more detectable labels. The detectable label may be a fluorophore, an enzyme, a quencher, an enzyme inhibitor, a radioactive label, one member of a binding pair and a combination thereof. In a more preferred embodiment, the primer comprises both a fluorophore and a quencher. The quencher may be close to the fluorophore to suppress the fluorescence of the fluorophore. For example, the separation between the fluorophore and the quencher may be 0 to 2 bases, 0 to 5 bases, 0 to 8 bases, 0 to 10 bases, 3 to 5 bases, 6 to 8 bases, and 8 to 10 bases. In a preferred embodiment, the fluorophore and quencher are separated by a greater distance when the extension blocked primer is unhybridized (but attached to recombinase and/or single stranded binding protein) than when the extension blocked primer is hybridized to the target nucleic acid. The fluorophore and quencher may be any fluorophore and quencher known to work together including, but not limited to, the fluorophore and quenchers any of the fluororophores described in this disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts experimental data showing that lengthening primers accelerate reaction kinetics in the case of primers targeting a Bacillus subtilis genomic locus.

FIG. 2. depicts experimental results showing only the longer (45-mer) and faster primers successfully amplify DNA to gel detectable levels using ethidium bromide stain at 25° C., 23° C., 20° C., and 17° C.

FIG. 3. depicts amplification kinetics at 25° C. appear roughly half those at 37° C. This figure also shows that PEG levels influence both rate and specificity (a primer artifact is increased at high PEG concentrations).

FIG. 4. shows that primers for the Human ApolipoproteinB locus, ApoB4 and Apo300, demonstrate rapid kinetics when only 33 and 32 residues respectively in length, and reaction kinetics (at 37° C.) are not accelerated by elongation.

FIG. 5. shows that primers for the Human ApolipoproteinB locus, ApoB4 and Apo300, demonstrate amplification at 25° C. regardless of whether the 3′ end is elongated.

FIG. 6. shows that UNG inhibitor peptide from Bacillus phage can be used in combination with E. coli UNG for a carry-over contamination system which avoids a need for thermal denaturation of UNG.

FIG. 7. depicts experimental data showing (a) A real-time detection probe comprising a FAM fluorophore, (b) a deep dark quencher, (c) an abasic site mimic, and (d) a blocked 3′ end, provide excellent characteristics in RPA reactions for monitoring specific product accumulation. FIG. 7B discloses the probe sequence as SEQ ID NOS 64 and 81, respectively.

FIG. 8 depicts the development of a third probe detection system. Fluorescence data may be best interpreted through a process of normalization and plotting the log of fluorescence.

FIG. 9. depicts the use of reversibly blocked primers to gain high signal to noise ratios for sandwich assays. RPA reactions configured with a blocked, splittable, probe active only after splitting by Nfo enzyme can be analyzed directly on lateral flow test strips.

FIG. 10 depicts experimental results showing development of a dual-probe amplification/detection system for the hospital superbug MRSA. FIG. 10A discloses the sequence as SEO ID NOS 93 and 94, respectively.

FIG. 11 depicts real-time probe-based detection of control MSSA DNA sequences.

FIG. 12 depicts a schematic of an RPA process.

FIG. 13 depicts the use of specific antibodies to immobilize and detect complexes containing two antigenic labels on a flowstrip. FIG. 13B discloses the sequence as SEQ ID NOS 95 and 96, respectively.

FIG. 14 shows polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of RPA reactions using primers for the human Sry locus.

FIG. 15 shows agarose gel electrophoresis of RPA reactions using primers for the human Apolipoprotein B locus.

FIG. 16 depicts an investigation of the minimum oligonucleotides size necessary to support RPA

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In RPA the isothermal amplification of specific DNA fragments is achieved by the binding of opposing oligonucleotide primers to template DNA and their extension by a polymerase (FIG. 1A). Unlike PCR, which requires global melting of the target template, RPA employs recombinase-primer complexes to scan double-stranded DNA and facilitate strand exchange at cognate sites. The resulting structures are stabilized by single-stranded DNA binding proteins (SSBs) interacting with the displaced template strand, thus preventing the ejection of the primer by branch migration. Recombinase disassembly leaves the 3′-end of the oligonucleotide accessible to a strand displacing DNA polymerase in this case the large fragment of B. subtilis Poll (Bsu) (See, Okazaki et al., 1964), and primer extension ensues. Exponential amplification is accomplished by the cyclic repetition of this process.

In this disclosure, we showed a number of improvements over the basic RPA process. First, we found that with modifications to standard conditions, RPA may be performed efficiently at 25° C. or 30° C. These reaction temperatures allows for equipment-free RPA tests with results in under an hour.

Second, we improved the sensitivity and specificity of RPA reactions by using DNA repair enzymes in the RPA reaction. In this study, we employed a wide spectrum of previously identified repair enzymes directly in RPA reactions to see if these enzymes would have an effect on RPA efficiency and fidelity. We hypothesize that primer artifacts arise in RPA principally by errant extension of short-lived hairpin structures formed by the primers, or possibly by forming primer dimers (PCT Application PCT/IB2005/001560 filed Apr. 11, 2005). Although such events are presumably rare, the high concentration of oligonucleotide in a reaction, typically of the order 10¹²-10¹³ molecules would tend to promote a significant degree of such events when the concentration of target template nucleic acid (i.e., the nucleic acid to be amplified) is low. It should be noted that these side reactions are distinct in nature from those often reported in PCR in which poorly-related sequences are amplified from complex DNA samples due to low fidelity of extension from hybridization products in which only a limited number of 3′ residues are homologous to parts of the sample DNA. In RPA we believe that the primary recombinase-mediated pairing requires significant homology over significant regions, and rather that single-stranded DNA's are the species mainly sensitive to artifacts through snapback events occurring at the relatively low temperatures employed. Because of this distinction, methods for reducing primer artifacts in PCR do not necessarily work in RPA reaction. This distinction is important to comprehending the approach and mechanism described below for decreasing the background noise generated in the system even in the absence of any target nucleic acids, and the way in which this increases sensitivity by decreasing the competitive primer noise.

We disclose herein the use of primers deliberately modified with a 3′-blocking group (with a biotin, ddC residue, or otherwise), and additionally containing a roughly centrally positioned modified (or absent) base. The internally positioned modification became a nuclease target for a repair endonuclease enzyme, which could split the primer to generate two separate primers only if first paired to a target to generate a stable duplex, and then secondarily processed by the enzyme. If one of the new daughter primers (i.e. the most relatively 5′ positioned) possesses, or can subsequently be processed to possess, a free extendable 3′ hydroxyl group, then it could subsequently function as a polymerase substrate. In contrast the daughter oligonucleotide positioned relatively 3′ would retain the original blocking modification and be unable to function as a polymerase substrate. A dependence on splitting the oligonucleotide to form two duplex hybrids separated by a nick or single-nucleotide gap adds noise reduction to the RPA system as there is little or no opportunity for the un-split primer to be erroneously extended in transient fold-back structures due to the presence of the 3′ blocking group. We demonstrate the utility of this approach to reduce primer noise here by showing that trace DNA samples can be detected and discriminated from water merely by assessing whether two labeled DNA primers become physically linked. The possibility of such simple assays presents RPA as a powerful tool in the development of cheap, disposable, equipment-free DNA tests.

Finally we have adapted the above duplex-specific nuclease system to the development of proprietary real-time fluorescent probes. We anticipated that the design of effective fluorescent probes would be quite distinct in the RPA system in comparison to other described systems, such as in the PCR method. Why is this? We identified two key areas of difference. First, the organization of the functional groups on the probe would likely be necessarily different due to the extreme difference between RPA reaction environments and those of other amplification systems. Earlier work demonstrated that the RPA reaction environment was fundamentally and critically distinct from that encountered in other nucleic acid amplification reactions. Saturating quantities of single-stranded DNA binding protein and recombinase protein ensures that oligonucleotides with non-modified backbones do not adopt a random coil structure. DNA's are relatively ‘stretched out’ and rigid as these proteins imbue the nucleoprotein filament with a filament length roughly 1.5 times that of B-form DNA (Yang et al., 2001; Scheerhagen et al., 1985; Kuil M E et al., 1990). Consequently the supposition that probes covalently linked to fluorophores and quenchers distant in the primary sequence will still quench due to frequent random approach does not hold true. The second key area in which RPA probes were anticipated to be quite distinct form those in other described systems relates to the enzymes employed in probes processing. We discovered experimentally that described approaches using the 5′ exonuclease domain of Pol I class enzymes appeared incompatible with RPA (so-called ‘Taqman’ method), likely due to FLAP endonuclease activity of these enzymes (Kaiser et al., 1999). We further anticipated that other systems such as molecular beacons or scorpion probes were similarly unlikely to be practical (due to the instability of short duplex anchors in RPA conditions). Instead, we here show that it is possible to configure excellent real-time RPA probes by placing fluorophore and quencher moieties close to one another separated by a modified base that leads to backbone splitting only in a duplex context. This approach promises to add tremendous value to the RPA process as it brings the real-time quantitative detection and multiplexing specifications into alignment with the current state-of-the-art using the other methods. Specifically it provides an approach to assess absolute numbers of target nucleic acid molecules in a sample, to increase specificity and sensitivity to allow single molecule detection, and also to permit multiplex analysis of several targets. All of these properties can be attained using this method without a need for gel electrophoresis, or other approaches requiring experimental intervention, but rather reactions can be monitored continuously and automatically by dedicated equipment. To illustrate the power of combining the RPA process with these highly fidelitous detection approaches we have developed an ultra-sensitive, internally-controlled, test for the hospital pathogen MRSA, a difficult target due to the complex and diverse nature of pathogenic strains, and a need for multiplexing.

Each aspect of the invention is described in more detail below:

Low Temperature RPA

RPA reactions operate optimally at about 37° C., reflecting the temperature optimum of the enzymes involved in an RPA reaction. While 37° C. is easily achieved in the laboratory, an RPA reaction that can function efficiently at 30° C. or 25° C. would increase the utility of RPA and allow real time amplification under field conditions where a 37° C. incubate in not available.

To determine if primer length has an effect on RPA efficiency, RPA reactions were performed at 37° C. with primer pairs of different lengths (FIG. 1). The results of the experiments, as shown in FIG. 1, shows that primer ‘rates’ can be enhanced by lengthening primers. Panel A of FIG. 1 shows the primer organization at the B. Subtilis locus targeted by BsA1 and BsB3 primers for RPA amplification. The primers BsA1 and BsB3 (30 and 31 residues respectively), or derivatives containing extensions which retain appropriate homolog with the target which were used in the RPA reactions. Panel B shows the results of amplification kinetics monitored in a BIOTEK Flx-800 microplate reader with heated stage set to 38° C. SYBR-green was employed to assess DNA accumulation. Precise reaction conditions and component concentrations are as follows: 10 copies/μl; 10 mM Mg acetate; 50 mM Tris pH 7.9; 100 μM dNTPs; 600 ng/μl gp32; 120 ng/μl uvsX; 30 ng/μl uvsY; 300 nM oligos; 5% Carbowax 20M; 1:50,000 SYBR green; 100 mM Pot. acetate; 20 mM Phosphocreatine; 100 ng/ml CK (creatin kinase); 3 mM ATP.

It is understood that the primers for any of the methods of the invention may be made from DNA, RNA, PNA, LNA, morpholino backbone nucleic acid, phosphorothioate backbone nucleic acid and a combination thereof. Combinations thereof in this case refer to a single nucleic acid molecule which may contain one or more of one base connected to one of more of another base. Preferred concentration of these molecules may be in the range of between 25 nM to 1000 nM. In one preferred embodiment, the primers may contain a non-phosphate linkage between the two bases at its 3′ end and is resistant to 3′ to 5′ nuclease activity.

Our results show that there was a gradual increase in kinetic rate as the primers were lengthened. In fact lengthening the primers from 30/31-mers to 45-mers cut the amplification time to threshold detection by about 10 minutes, from roughly 35 minutes to 25 minutes under the conditions used here (10 mM magnesium, 5% carbowax 20M). Based on the results of this experiment, we conclude that primers with slow kinetics may be enhanced by increasing primer length.

We also investigated whether primer length has an effect on RPA performed in lower temperatures. RPA may not work at a lower temperature for at least two reasons. First, there can be a sudden and dramatic cessation of RPA reaction function below a certain temperature if, for example, one of the components of the reaction cease to function below a certain temperature. For example, the carbowax may go through a phase transition at a lower temperature and cease to function in the desired fashion. Second, the reaction rate may simply slow progressively so that doubling times lengthen, a reflection of slower enzyme catalysis and diffusion. In the second case, the primer ‘rate’ could be very important because the reaction would possibly be ‘up-against-the-clock’ with regard to exhaustion of reaction components such as ATP.

To test our hypothesis, we attempted to amplify the same fragments as in FIG. 1 but at 25° C. The results, shown in FIG. 2, indicate that primers with fast kinetics can amplify DNA at typical ambient (room) temperatures. The primers used in FIG. 1 were used to amplify a specific fragment from the B. subtilis genome. FIG. 2A shows the schematic arrangement of primers. FIG. 2B shows that only 45-mers amplify to detectable levels at 25° C. Conditions used were: 50 mM Tris pH 8.4, 100 mM Potassium acetate, 10 mM Magnesium acetate, 2 mM DTT, 7.5% PEG compound (Carbowax-20M), 3 mM ATP, 25 mM Phosphocreatine, 100 ng/μl creatine kinase, 700 ng/μl gp32, 160 ng/μl uvsX, 40 ng/μl uvsY, 200 μM dNTPs, 300 nM each oligonucleotide. Reaction time, 90 minutes. Start copy density 2 copies/μl, reaction volume 50 μl. FIG. 2C shows that only 45-mers amplify DNA at 23° C., and amplification to detectable levels can also occur at 20° C. and 17° C. when the 45-mer is used although progressively less amplification product was recovered. Conditions used: 50 mM Tris pH 8.4, 100 mM Potassium acetate, 14 mM Magnesium acetate, 2 mM DTT, 7.5% PEG compound (Carbowax-20M), 3 mM ATP, 50 mM Phosphocreatine, 100 ng/μl creatine kinase, 650 ng/μl gp32, 125 ng/μl uvsX, 40 ng/μl uvsY, 200 μM dNTPs, 300 nM each oligonucleotide. Reaction time, 120 minutes. Start copy density 1 copy/μl, reaction volume 20 μl.

As seen in FIG. 2, specific amplification of about 10¹⁰ fold observed even at temperatures at low as 17° C. The time to detection was within 2 hours. In the experiments performed at 23° C. or below only 20 copies of genomic DNA were added, and although some trace carry-over contamination had been in evidence from water controls (not shown), the attainment of visible product when using ethidium bromide stain (estimated 20 ngs at 17° C.) suggests an amplification level of around 10⁹-fold, or 30 cycles. Importantly high levels of ‘noise’ are not apparent, although we did observe one additional fast-migrating extra band of unidentified nature (quite possibly classical primer dimer, or single-stranded DNA related to the product).

The kinetic behavior of the 45-mer primers at 25° C., under different concentrations of PEG, is shown in FIG. 3. In FIG. 3, the 45-mer primers used in FIGS. 1 and 2 were used to amplify a fragment of the B. subtilis genome at 25° C. FIG. 3A shows the arrangement of the primer pair used. FIG. 3B shows agarose gel electrophoresis and ethidium bromide staining of samples at reaction endpoint. The expected band (*) is accompanied by an additional band at higher PEG concentrations (#). FIG. 3C shows the kinetics of the amplification reaction monitored using SYBR-green. Conditions used was as follows: 50 mM Tris pH 8.4, 100 mM Potassium acetate, 10 mM Magnesium acetate, 2 mM DTT, PEG compound (Carbowax-20M) as indicated, 3 mM ATP, 25 mM Phosphocreatine, 100 ng/μl creatine kinase, 650 ng/μl gp32, 160 ng/μl uvsX, 40 ng/μl uvsY, 200 μM dNTPs, 300 nM each oligonucleotide, SYBR-green 1:50,000 from stock. Reaction time, 120 minutes. Start copy density 10 copy/μl, reaction volume 50 μl.

The lack of a signal in the 4% lane is possibly due to experimental error. The results show that higher PEG concentrations can accelerate kinetics up to a point, and then some inhibition in rate and overall reaction behavior/outcome is observed. In this case 7% or 8% PEG were optimal for maximizing the amount of amplified nucleic acids of the correct length. When the PEG concentrations are higher, there is progressive domination of the faster-migrating anomalous band. In the presence of 8% PEG detection was observed by about 37 minutes at 25° C., which corresponds to a doubling time of around 1 minute 25 seconds. At 5% PEG detection was made at about 54 minutes (corresponding to a 2 minutes doubling time). This reaction at 25° C. is about half as fastas the experiment shown in FIG. 1 (detection time of 27 minutes and doubling time of 1 minute. Based on this, we estimate RPA reaction rates halve with roughly every 10° C. drop in temperature. Further, due to limited pools of reagents such as ATP, detectable product formation may be limited regardless of incubation time depending on the temperature, activity of the primers, and product length. Our results suggest that effective low temperature RPA would be improved with primers that show fast kinetics, and which are not rate limiting in the reaction.

The experiment of FIG. 3 was repeated using primers targeting the human Apolipoprotein B gene and the results are shown in FIG. 4. FIG. 4A shows the arrangement of primers targeting the human Apolipoprotein B locus. Three primer pairs were used as shown, and overlapping primers shared a common 5′ extremity but different 3′ ends. (B) Kinetics of amplification at 38° C. Reactions with the indicated primer pairs were monitored in real-time using SYBR-green dye. Start target copy numbers were either 1 copy/μl or 100 copies/μl of human DNA. Reaction conditions were as follows: 50 mM Tris pH 7.9, 100 mM Potassium acetate, 10 mM Magnesium acetate, 2 mM DTT, 5% PEG compound (Carbowax-20M), 3 mM ATP, 25 mM Phosphocreatine, 100 ng/μl creatine kinase, 600 ng/μl gp32, 120 ng/μl uvsX, 30 ng/μl uvsY, 100 μM dNTPs, 300 nM each oligonucleotide, SYBR-green 1:50,000 from stock. Reaction time, 60 minutes. Reaction volume 50 μl.

Primers for the Human Apolipoprotein B locus show rapid kinetics without primer elongation. In this case kinetic studies using SYBR-green revealed that no rate increase was found with longer RPA primers. It appears that the ApoB4 and Apo300 primers used here, even when short, possess high rate behavior to the extent that they are not the rate limiting factor in the reaction. Presumably, in this reaction, polymerase rate is now the main rate-limiting part of the reaction and more active (longer) primers cannot achieve an overall speed benefit. Consistent with our hypothesis, we find that all of the Apolipoprotein B primers generate the expected product at 25° C. (FIG. 5). FIG. 5A is the same as FIG. 4A in that it shows the arrangement of the primers used. FIG. 5B shows gel electrophoresis of RPA reactions performed at 25° C. using the indicated primer pairs. Copy numbers of zero or 10 copies/μl were tested in each case. Conditions used were as in FIG. 4 with the exception of the omission of SYBR-green. In this case, no artifact band is seen—supporting the idea that RPA reactions do not significantly suffer from ‘noise’ at reduced temperatures.

Contamination Control Using UNG Inhibitor from Bacteriophage PBS2

RPA reactions are compatible with the use of dUTP as a method to control carry-over contamination. One caveat with the earlier experimental data is that in order to initiate the reaction the uracil glycosylase enzyme had to be heat inactivated. This poses two incompatibility issues with RPA. First, heat inactivation would also inactivate complete RPA reactions because RPA reagents are not heat stable. Second, heat inactivation is inconsistent with one goal of RPA—the avoidance of thermal cycling.

Because of the reasons above, we set to investigate another technical route to implement contamination control. It is known that the Bacillus subtilis phages PBS1 (See, Savva and Pearl, 1995) and PBS2 (See, Wang,Z. and Mosbaugh,D. W. (1989)) possess a specific small peptide inhibitor of E. coli and B. subtilis uracil-DNA glycosylase (Wang and Mosbaugh, 1988). They require a highly effective system as their own. DNA is synthesized using dUTP rather than dTTP. We cloned the PBS2 DNA sequencing encoding the inhibitor peptide and expressed it in E. coli with a C-terminal hexahistidine tag (SEQ ID NO:92). We also cloned the E.coli uracil glycosylase gene and expressed it with a C-terminal hexahistidine (SEQ ID NO:92). We used these protein preparations to test whether a carry-over contamination system could be employed with them. FIG. 6 shows an example of experiments performed which validate that such an approach. In FIG. 6, the start target copy numbers of the template were 800 copies of human DNA where used. Reaction conditions were as follows: 50mM Tris pH 8.4, 100 mM Potassium acetate, 10 mM Magnesium acetate, 2 mM DTT, 5% PEG compound (Carbowax-20M), 3 mM ATP, 25 mM Phosphocreatine, 100 ng/μl creatine kinase, 600 ng/μl gp32, 125 ng/μl uvsX, 30 ng/μl uvsY, 100 μM dNTPs, 300 nM each oligonucleotide (SRY8 and SRY9 primers). Reaction time, 75 minutes. Reaction volume 50 μl. Where used E. coli UNG was used at 150 ng/μl, and UNG inhibitor was used at 140 ng/μl. Contamination was genuine carry-over contamination present for this amplicon in the laboratory liquid-handling equipment. Reactions were established with all amplification components apart from the polymerase. Reactions 1-4 carried genomic template. DNA, reactions 5 and 6 contained only contaminating material. The samples were treated for 5 minutes with UNG in samples 2, 3, 4, and 6. In samples 2, 4, and 6 UNG inhibitor was added after 5 minutes. In all cases after the 5 minute incubation period, with or without UNG and with or without subsequent addition of UNG inhibitor, polymerase was added to initiate DNA synthesis. In this experiment we show the following: (1) that E. coli UNG will inhibit RPA reactions containing dUTP substrate, (2) that co-inclusion of the inhibitor peptide overcomes this inhibition, (3) that dUTP-containing contaminants can be suppressed from generating amplicons if first treated with E. coli UNG and then with the inhibitor, but that bona fide templates are still effective. Under the conditions used we have seen some evidence of some decrease in robustness/product level when UNG was present in the reaction. We anticipate however that the system may be configured more optimally.

Fluorescent Real-Time Probes for RPA Reactions

Many possible applications of the RPA process in detecting DNA (or RNA) sequences would benefit from being applied in a real-time format. RPA has already been shown to be effective when combined with minor groove binding dyes such as SYBR-green (PCT Application PCT/IB2005/001560 filed Apr. 11, 2005). However there may be potential limitations of using such general indicators of DNA accumulation to assess reaction behavior. First, there is no capacity for multiplexing amplification reactions as the dyes cannot discriminate between the various products formed. In many clinical tests, for example, there would be a need to include an internal amplification control to exclude false negatives. Second, RPA reactions are similar to most other DNA amplification processes insofar as even when no target is present in a sample, some DNA synthesis will eventually ensue. Consequently may be difficult or impossible to discriminate between the presences of a few copies of target nucleic acid or no copies of a nucleic acid based on current methods of florescent detection.

In response to these issues we have developed a proprietary fluorescence-based probe system to monitor RPA reactions. We investigated using the 5′-3′ nuclease associated with the polymerases of the E. coli Pol I class. This nuclease is used in a fluorescent probe methodology for PCR known as the 5′nuclease, or ‘Taqman’, assay. We found that both Bacillus subtilis Pol I retaining the 5′-3′ nuclease domain and the E. coli Poll enzyme would not support RPA reactions. On reflection we believe this arises because these nucleases are structural/functional homologs of the FEN1 FLAP endonuclease family and most likely are structure-specific endonucleases (Kaiser et al.). We suppose these enzymes progressively digest the displaced strand during the strand-displacement synthesis thus inhibiting DNA amplification.

We focused our attentions particularly on the E. coli glycosylase enzymes and AP endonucleases involved in DNA repair known as fpg, Nth, Nfo, and more recently E. coli exonuclease III. Importantly these enzymes will only remove damaged bases and/or nick DNA backbones at positions in which base modifications have occurred and, critically, in the context of duplex DNA. All of these enzymes are able to cleave such appropriate duplex DNA molecules with high specificity in the RPA environment (see application). Test probes were utilized that contained a modified base within the body of the oligonucleotide (8-oxoguanine, thymine glycol, or abasic site mimic respectively) and an additional distinct elongation blocking group on the 3′ end (provided by a 3′-dR-biotin). Despite obvious promise for all of these enzymes, and potentially other repair/processing enzymes, we focused on the behavior of the E. coli Nfo and exonuclease III enzymes for the following reasons. First, we observed when testing fpg, Nth, and Nfo proteins that the degree of successful probe processing was highest for the probe containing a tetrahydrofuran residue (THF—an abasic site mimic), and processed by Nfo. Second, because Nfo, and the functionally similar E. coli exonuclease III, split the oligonucleotide into two smaller oligonucleotides separated by a single nucleotide gap, in which the new 3′ end that is formed can be elongated by a strand displacing polymerase that can initiate at nicks. This property endows the THF/Nfo or THF/exonuclease III processing system with a wealth of application opportunities that extend beyond application to fluorescent probe processing. (Note that other abasic site mimics, or true abasic sites might also be employed).

A previous report has also illustrated a potential use of employing an abasic, or other blocking residue, in the context of an amplification process, with the preferred intention to remove the residue in the context of PCR or LCR reactions using a thermostable nuclease (U.S. Pat. No. 5,792,607, referred to herein as the '607 patent). However the approach we used is distinct from that of the '607 patent. In the '607 patent, an abasic site is described as one member of a broader selection of modifying groups, to be positioned preferentially at the 3′ end of the intended amplification oligonucleotide, and designed to serve as a reversible 3′ sugar modifying group by effectively preventing substrate recognition or catalysis by the polymerase. The intention is to decrease the propensity of the amplification system to amplify unintended targets in sample DNA because of the tendency of PCR and LCR techniques to form, albeit at reduced frequency, hybrids with sequences sharing limited homology to the 3′-region of oligonucleotide primers. Furthermore it is intended, critically, in the '607 patent that this modification preventing substrate recognition be specifically corrected in a target-dependent fashion. Such an activity might be performed by the activity of an agent such as endonuclease IV which can ‘polish’ groups from a 3′ sugar residue. However, quite distinctly, in the process described herein the THF residue does not serve as an elongation-blocking modification agent to the 3′ sugar that prevents the initial oligonucleotide/template hybrid being recognized as a bona fide substrate. Indeed the THF residue, instead of being located at the very 3′ end of an oligonucleotide, is positioned within the body of the oligonucleotide, away from the substrate target of the polymerase (i.e. the 3′ end region of the hybridized primer on the template DNA). In this disclosure the principal motivation is to prevent noise arising from primer fold-back artifacts. Thus, instead, herein the processing of the THF residue by an endonuclease activity leads to incision of the oligonucleotide backbone in the context of a bona fide duplex in a distinct event from ‘correction’ of the modification that prevents polymerase substrate recognition. We also describe herein 3′ terminal elongation-blocking modifications, however these are not the ‘corrected’ modification in this case, and are not necessarily removed from 3′-terminal nucleotides as in the '607 patent. Instead, in the case described here we would employ two separable entities, a non-corrected 3′-blocking group, and a centrally located abasic-like residue which can be incised by an AP endonuclease to generate a nicked structure and two independent daughter annealed primers, only one of whom is a polymerase substrate.

FIG. 7 shows the results of an experiment in which a fluorescent sensing probe has been employed to assay for the accumulation of a specific amplicon in an RPA reaction. FIG. 7A shows a schematic structure of the probe. The probe has internal base-labeled fluorophore and quencher (fluorescein and deep dark quencher II) which were incorporated during synthesis by using commercially available (Glen Research, Sterling, Va., USA) fluorescein-dT or DDQ2-dT amidites.

A THF residue was inserted at a nucleotide position between these modified bases. The probe was blocked by the presence of a 3′-dR-biotin group. FIG. 7B shows the probe sequence which is:

(SEQ ID NO: 8) 5′-catgattggatgaataagctgcagc (dTfluoro) g (THF) t (dT-DDQ1)aaaggaaactta-dRbiotin-3′

The probe is homologous to part of the Bacillus subtilis SpoOB locus contained within an amplicon generated by primers J1 and K2. The fluorophore and quencher were designed to be on T residues in the sequence so that they could be incorporated directly on commercially available amidites. FIG. 7C shows the amplification and probe cleavage kinetics as monitored by fluorescence increase. Amplification reactions were established with varying concentrations of target Bacillus subtilis genomic DNA. Reactions were established on ice and then incubated in a BIOTEK Flx800 microplate reader with stage set at 38° C. Amplification conditions are as follows: Start target copy numbers were as indicated. Reaction conditions: 50 mM Tris pH 7.9, 100 mM Potassium acetate, 12 mM Magnesium acetate, 2 mM DTT, 5% PEG compound (Carbowax-20M), 3 mM ATP, 25 mM Phosphocreatine, 100 ng/μl creatine kinase, 900 ng/μl gp32, 120 ng/μl uvsX, 30 ng/μl uvsY, 180 ng/μl Nfo, 100 μM dNTPs, 450 nM of K2 primer, 150 nM J1 primer, 100 nM probe. Reaction time, 60 minutes. Reaction volume 20 μl.

The sensing probe was designed to possess a fluorophore and quencher separated by (a) less than 10 bases (to ensure efficient quenching) and (b) a cleavable site (THF residue). In this case the primary amplicon was generated using the primers J1 and K2 to amplify a fragment from the Bacillus subtilis SpoOB locus. RPA reactions were modified from our usual conditions in the following manner. First the probe was included, whose overall structure and sequence is shown in the lower part of the figure. Second the amplification primers were biased in concentration so that there was a relative excess of the amplification primer opposing the probe in order that there might be a steady-state excess of complementary sequences to the probe. Finally the Nfo enzyme was included in the reaction. Reactions were performed in 20 microliter volumes in a standard 384-well plate and fluorescence monitored using excitation/detection filters of 485/525 in a BIO-TEK Flx800 plate reader. We observed that there was a template-dependent increase in fluorescence. The time at which accumulation begins was dependent on the copy number, as was the level of total fluorescence at the end of the period of reaction monitoring at one hour.

In FIG. 8 this experiment was repeated. FIG. 8A shows the raw fluorescence data while FIG. 8B shows normalized fluorescent signals. The fluorescence signal present in the water control at any given time was subtracted from all other sample fluorescence signals. All samples were normalized to one another by adjusting them to a common baseline based on the period prior to measurable fluorescence rise. In FIG. 8C, the log of the normalized fluorescence data was plotted and in FIG. 8D the time of threshold crossing of the fluorescence signal (set to about 2.6) was plotted against start copy number.

In this case we have shown the result of normalizing the samples against the signal in the water control, and then the results of plotting the logarithm of the normalized fluorescence signal. We set a fluorescence signal of 2.5 or above as constituting a positive signal. Note that it is easy to distinguish the low copy samples from water in contrast to the situation usually observed when using SYBR-green. The slight fluorescence increase in the water sample is almost certainly due to slight carry-over contamination associated with this particular amplicon which has been handled widely in the laboratory.

With respect to the quenchers of this disclosure, it is understood that a quencher need not be a fluorophore. A non-fluorescent chromophore can be used that overlaps with the donor's emission (a dark quencher). In such a case, the transferred energy is dissipated as heat.

High efficiency dark quenchers, such as Dark Quencher 1, Dark Quencher 2 and Black Hole Quencher1 and Black Hole Quencher 2 are known and commercially available (Biosearch Technologies, Inc., Novato, Calif.). As is known in the art, the high quenching efficiency and lack of native fluorescence of the dark quencher allows attachment of a fluorophore and a quencher on one oligonucleotide and ensures that such an oligonucleotide does not fluoresce when it is in solution.

Suitable fluorophores and quenchers for use with the polynucleotides of the present invention can be readily determined by one skilled in the art (see also, Tgayi et al., Nature Biotechnol. 16:49-53 (1998); Marras et al., Genet. Anal.: Biomolec. Eng. 14:151-156 (1999)). Many fluorophores and quenchers are available commercially, for example from Molecular Probes (Eugene, Oreg.) or Biosearch Technologies, Inc. (Novato, Calif.). Examples of fluorophores that can be used in the present invention include, but are not limited to, fluorescein and fluorescein derivatives such as FAM, VIC, and JOE, 5-(2′-aminoethyl)aminonaphthalene-1-sulphonic acid (EDANS), coumarin and coumarin derivatives, Lucifer yellow, NED, Texas red, tetramethylrhodamine, tetrachloro-6-carboxyfluoroscein, 5 carboxyrhodamine, cyanine dyes and the like. Quenchers include, but are not limited to, DABSYL, 4′-(4-dimethylaminophenylazo)benzoic acid (DABCYL), 4-dimethylaminophenylazophenyl-4′-maleimide (DABMI), tetramethylrhodamine, carboxytetramethylrhodamine (TAMRA), Black Hole Quencher, Dark Quencher 1, and Dark Quencher 2. Methods of coupling fluorophores and quenchers to nucleic acids are well-known in the art.

We have successfully implemented a fluorescent probe system in the RPA reaction environment and established the general structure of probes. With this knowledge it should be easy to develop probes to detect any amplicon, and by judicious selection of alternate fluorophores, to multiplex more than one amplification at once. To demonstrate this we have developed a multiplex test for the antibiotic-resistant S. aureus pathogen known in the United Kingdom as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA for short.

The Detection of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

MRSA comprises a collection of Staphylococcus aureus strains which have developed antibiotic resistance by integration of a resistance cassette, the mecA cassette, at a specific location in the S. aureus genome. While the same general genomic integration site is always used, the precise integration site junctions and orientation of the cassettes can vary. Despite this variation, independent isolates can be segregated into a limited number of general groups with representative integration structures. In addition to this complexity, further difficulties arise due to the existence of base polymorphisms between strains which can compromise the effectiveness of amplification primers and probes. The MRSA pathogen thus represents a complex target because in order to capture over 90% of the strains commonly found in clinical specimens in a single test it is necessary to accommodate detection of three structurally distinct variations of the mecA resistance cassette integration locus, and account for some common polymorphisms. Additionally, it is necessary that the amplicon spans one arm of the integration cassette to ensure that any mecA sequences amplified are in the context of the S. aureus genome, and were not present in an unrelated bacterium.

In order to configure an RPA test for over 90% of common MRSA strains, we developed a primer design strategy which is illustrated in FIG. 10. FIG. 10 depicts the real-time detection of MRSA alleles in a multiplex test environment. FIG. 10A is a schematic of the RPA probe principle. Signal generation depends on probe cutting by double-strand specific Nfo. FIG. 10B depicts an arrangement of primers and probes relative to the targets used in 2C-F and 3C. A PCR fragment that fused an unrelated sequence to the target sites sccIII and orfX served as internal control. FIG. 10C shows probe signal of RPA reactions using the primer set orfX/sccIII. MRSAIII DNA at 10⁴ (black, reactions 1-3), 10³ (red, 4-6), 100 (yellow, 7-9), 10 (green, 10-12) or 2 copies (purple, 13-17) or water (blue, 18-20) served as template. FIG. 10D shows a plot of the onset time of amplification (defined as passing the 2.5 threshold) in reactions 1-12 in 2C against the logarithm of the template copy number reveals a linear relationship. (E) A multiplex RPA approach enables detection of different MRSA alleles and an internal control in the same reaction. MRSAI (green), MRSAII (dark blue), MRSAIII DNA (red) at 10 copies or MSSA DNA at 10⁴ copies (blue, negative control) or water (yellow, turquoise) served as a template (in triplicate for each template condition). (F) Detection of the 50 copies of internal control DNA included in the reactions in 2E. A negative control contained water (turquoise). The RPA reactions were performed as follows: Real-time RPA was performed in a plate-reader (BioTek Flx-800) in the presence of fluorophore/quencher probes. Reactions were performed at 37° C. for 90 minutes. Conditions were 50 mM Tris (pH 7.9), 100 mM Potassium-acetate, 14 mM Magnesium-acetate, 2 mM DTT, 5.5% Carbowax20M, 200 μM dNTPs, 3 mM ATP, 50 mM Phosphocreatine, 100 ng/μl Creatine-kinase, 20 ng/μl Bsu. Concentrations of gp32/uxsX/uvsY (in ng/ul) were 900/120/30. Primers were employed at 265 nM sccI/II, 265 nM sccIII, 70 nM orfX. Reaction volumes were 20 μl.

Three probes were employed:

SATamra1 (SEQ ID NO: 9) 5′-tgttaattga acaagtgtac agagcatt (T)a(H)ga(q1) tatgcgtgga g-Biotin-3′ SATamra2 (SEQ ID NO: 10) 5′-tgttaatga gcaagtgtat agacatt (T)a(H)ga(q2) tatgcgtgga g-Biotin-3′ BSFlc (SEQ ID NO: 11) 5′-catgattgga tgaataagct gcagc (F)g(H)t(q3) aaaggaaact ta-Biotin-3′

Here (T) is dT-TAMRA, (F) is dT-Fluorescein, (H) is THF, (q1) is dT-BHQ1, (q2) is dT-BHQ2, (q3) is dT-DDQ1. Probes were employed at 60 nM SATamra1 (MRSAIII experiment) or at 45 nM SATamra1, 45 nM SATamra2, 60 nM BSFlc (multiplex experiment). Nfo was used at 200 ng/ul. Excitation/detection was at 485/525 nm (SybrGreenI, BSFlc) or 530/575 nm (SATamra1/2). Measurements were taken every 30 sec or 45 sec (multiplex experiment). Fluorescence probe data were normalized against water control and pre-amplification baseline adjusted. The logarithm of the read-out was plotted against reaction time.

Briefly, a single primer was designed to recognize the S. aureus genomic DNA outside of the integration cassette region, and is termed orfX. Two further primers specific to the mec cassette were designed, and one of these (scc I/II) can be used to amplify the locus from two of the strain variants, while the second (scc III) amplified the locus from the third variant. Two probes for the amplicons are used, differing in two residues to account for common single nucleotide polymorphisms. Both these MRSA probes use TAMRA as fluorophore. Finally a control amplicon is included in the reaction which comprises a unique segment of an unrelated B. subtilis genomic DNA fragment fused to the orfx and sccIII primers, and a third probe may be used to sense this amplicon (BSFlc, and this is the same probe used in the experiments in FIG. 7, contains a fluorescein and deep dark quencher I). FIG. 10 part A illustrates once again the strategy for developing increased fluorescence in the reaction by processing of probes forming hybrids with amplicons. In Part C detection of one MRSA genomic DNA template is demonstrated over a wide concentration range in a non-multiplexed environment. Part E shows the results of an experiment in which (approximately) 10 copies of each of the three types of MRSA were separately detected using a single reaction mastermix. In part F the signal generated by the control sequence in the fluorescein channel is shown, and we can see that all those samples containing control DNA score positive.

Included in these experiments are control reactions containing relatively high concentrations of (10⁴ copies) of non-resistant S. aureus DNA. Satisfyingly, these samples do not score positive indicating a strict requirement for both S. aureus sequences as well as the mecA cassette. To ensure that this control DNA was functional and that the copy concentration was as indicated, the DNA was used in control reactions employing a combination of the orfx primer and a second S. aureus specific primer termed mssa. In this case the same probes may be employed as the probes recognize common sections of the S. aureus genome. In FIG. 11 we can observe the results of an experiment performed with these non-resistant strain specific primers, and see how the control MSSA DNA is indeed effective, and shows appropriate response of the quantitative analysis to copy number. FIG. 11 depicts the detection of MSSA DNA in a real-time quantitative RPA reaction. Probe signal of RPA reactions using the primer set orfX/mssa and probe SATamra2. FIG. 11A depicts measurement of MSSA DNA at 10⁴ (black, reactions 1-3), 10³ (red, 4-6), 100 (yellow, 7-9), 10 (green, 10-12) or 2 copies (purple, 13-17) or MRSAI DNA at 10⁴ copies (grey, reactions 18-20) or water (blue, 21-23) served as template. Reaction conditions were 50 mM Tris (pH 7.9), 100 mM Potassium-acetate, 14 mM Magnesium-acetate, 2 mM DTT, 200 μM dNTPs, 3 mM ATP, 20 mM Phosphocreatine, 100 ng/μl Creatine-kinase, 5% Carbowax20M, 900 ng/μl gp32, 120 ng/μl uvsX, 30 ng/μl uvsY and 20 ng/μl Bsu. Oligonucleotides were employed at 500 nM mssa, 100 nM orfX and 60 nM SATamra2. Whilst the MSSA target is amplified even at very low concentrations, the negative control (MRSAI) does not generate a signal. FIG. 11B depicts a plot of the onset time of amplification (defined as passing the 2.5 threshold) in reactions 1-12 against the logarithm of the template copy number reveals a linear relationship.

Detection of Trace Nucleic Acids by Association of Primers Following Enzymatic Generation of an Extendable 3′ End

RPA is ideally suited to the development of portable equipment-free, or equipment-light, DNA tests. However such tests would ideally employ cheap, easy-to-use, approaches to determine whether amplification has occurred. Traditionally gel electrophoresis is used to assess whether a product of a defined size has accumulated. Alternatively fluorescent probes may be employed. In either case significant hardware is required to perform the analysis and this prevents the test being used by end-users lacking appropriate equipment.

Other approaches may be used to determine whether or not DNA amplification has occurred. One convenient hardware-free approach is to perform a sandwich assay in which the presence of an amplicon is assessed by interrogating whether two labeled gene-specific primers have become associated in a common DNA duplex. This can be achieved by labeling one amplification primer with a label, such as biotin, and an opposing primer with a second label, such as FAM. A variety of approaches can be employed to determine whether the two labeled primers become associated. For example in a conventional lateral flow strip assay (see for example patent EP0810436A1), two antibodies (or other moiety such as streptavidin that binds with high affinity to one of the oligonucleotide labels) are employed. One antibody would be immobilized on a flow membrane in a line or spot. The other is coupled to visible particles such as colloidal gold, latex particles, or similar. When the sample, in this case a diluted or undiluted amplification reaction, is applied to a sample pad in which the antibody-coupled visible particles are pre-deposited, the visible particles become stably associated with one of the labeled oligonucleotides. The entire sample then moves by capillary action up the membrane and as it flows the other labeled primer becomes ‘caught’ on the immobilized antibody. If the labeled primers are not co-associated in a duplex then the antibodies ‘caught’ on the membrane are not associated with the visible particles associated with the other primer. If, however, they are associated as a consequence of amplification then the visible particles also become trapped on the line or spot, and a visible signal accumulates. Other approaches to assess for association of primers can be configured.

One problem with simple association assays, such as sandwich assays, is the requirement that the primers do not associate unless bona fide amplification of the desired target has occurred. Any undesired association will lead to a false positive signal. However such a clean-cut situation is rarely the case with most amplification methods, particularly when the target is not abundant. For example primer dimers, or other artifacts, tend to accumulate to some extent in the PCR method regardless of optimization. RPA also suffers from the accumulation of primer-related artifacts as detailed earlier, and these are likely to interfere with the direct combination of RPA with such simple read-outs. Indeed this general problem may underpin part of the reason that sandwich assays have not been broadly implemented in currently available high sensitivity/specificity DNA tests. Those commercially available lateral flow systems marketed to assess PCR product accumulation are inconvenient, requiring a final step of hybridizing an additional probe primer to the product after the reaction has been performed in order to avoid aberrant co-association of primers through DNA synthesis (e.g. The Genline Chlamydia Direct test strip from Milenia).

We have configured RPA reactions to permit easy assessment of bona fide target amplification by direct addition to lateral flow strips, or potentially by other similar methods. To attain a clean distinction between positive and negative samples we have employed a labeled primer which is split by the E. coli Nfo or exonuclease III enzymes to generate two primers, one of which may be elongated. This is attained by blocking the 3′ end of the oligonucleotide, and separately incorporating a THF residue or product of employing a 5′-O-Dimethoxytrityl-1′,2′-Dideoxyribose-3′-[(2-cyanoethyl)-(N,N-diisopropyl)]-phosphoramidite during oligonucleotide synthesis, referred to herein as “D-spacer” available from Glen Research, Sterling, Va., USA) within the oligonucleotide to act as a splitting target for the enzyme. The dependence on formation of a stable duplex before the Nfo or exonuclease III enzymes will incise/split the primer ensures that aberrant association of this primer with the other labeled opposing primer does not occur, or is so infrequent as to fall below threshold of detection.

FIG. 9 shows data from experiment in which DNA from a methicillin-resistant S. aureus strain (EMRSA 16 strain containing the mec2 cassette), or from a non-resistant reference strain (MSSA) has been subjected to amplification in the presence of 3 primers. This experiment shows that a high signal to noise ratio amplification strategy suitable for lateral flow assays or other simple sandwich detection schemes is feasible. FIG. 9A shows a schematic of the arrangement of primers. The left-most primer, and the probe, recognize sequences present in the S. aureus genome, and similarly present in the S. aureus MSSA reference strain as well as the MRSA16 strain which contains a downstream mecII cassette insert. The right-most amplification primer is specific for sequences in the mecII cassette and is not found in the non-resistant S. aureus genome. The right-most primer is 5′-labelled with a biotin moiety, while the probe is labeled with a 5′-FAM moiety. The probe is blocked with 3′ ddC, and contains an internal THF residue. In FIG. 9B, amplification reactions were established with the following conditions: 50 mM Tris pH 7.9, 100 mM Potassium acetate, 14 mM Magnesium acetate, 2 mM DTT, 5% PEG compound (Carbowax-20M), 3 mM ATP, 25 mM Phosphocreatine, 100 ng/μl creatine kinase, 600 ng/μl gp32, 125 ng/μl uvsX, 30 ng/μl uvsY, 270 ng/μl Nfo, 100 μM dNTPs, 100 nM of ORFX45b primer, 100 nM sccII-35-2-bio primer, 50 nM probe ORFXprobe2. Reaction time, 60 minutes. Reaction volume 30 μl. Reaction temperature 37° C. Copy numbers were 1000 copies of MSSA DNA or 1000 copies of MRSA16 DNA, or water. After 60 minutes 1 μl of the reaction was diluted with 5 μl of PBS/3% Tween-20, and applied to the sample pad of a commercial lateral flow test strip from Milenia using 100 μl of PBS/3% Tween-20 (Milenia product: Genline hybri-detect MGHD1).

In this case 2 of the primers act as the main amplification primer pair, and a third acts as a probe. The probe contains a 3′ blocking group and a separate internal THF residue to act as a splitting target, as well as a FAM label at the 5′ end. The probe opposes one of the main amplification primers which is labeled with a biotin residue. Only if a bona fide amplicon accumulates will the probe form stable hybrids that are nicked/split by Nfo, elongated, and thus associate the 2 labeled primers. The results of an experiment are shown in which RPA amplifications established in this way were performed on DNA from the resistant and non-resistant strains. A small quantity of the reaction (1 μl) was then mixed with 5 μl of lateral flow running buffer (Phosphate buffered saline with 3% Tween-20) and directly applied to a commercial lateral flow strip (Milenia-germany). After about 1-2 minutes the strips were assessed for signal, and a photograph was taken. The test clearly distinguishes positive from negative.

Other processing enzymes might be employed in such approaches. In particular the E. coli fpg, Nth, and exonuclease III enzymes, homologs from other phyla, base mismatch repair enzymes such as E. coli MutY, MutS and MutM, E. coli MUG, Human MUG, Ogg1, and the vertebrate Nei-like (Neil) glycosylases. Any combination of the above repair enzymes might also be employed. In particular note that E. coli Nfo (endonuclease IV), and E. coli exonuclease III, possess phosphodiesterase activities and are capable of processing the non-extendable 3′ ends of nicked products of the other glycosylase/lyases to extendable 3′-hydroxyl residues.

All patents, patent applications and references, cited anywhere in this disclosure, are incorporated by reference in their entirety.

The invention will now be described further by way of examples. The examples are illustrative of the invention and are not intended to limit it in any way.

EXAMPLE Example 1 Nucleic Acid Sequences

Proteins and DNA

Coding sequences for uvsx, uvsy, gp32, Bsu and Nfo were amplified from genomic DNA (DSMZ, Germany), fused to hexahistidine-tags (SEQ ID NO:92) (N-terminal for uvsY, Bsu and Nfo, C-terminal for uvsX and gp32) and cloned into suitable expression vectors. Overexpression and purification was done by standard protocols using Nickel-NTA resin (Qiagen). S. aureus alleles were EMRSA-3 (SCCmec type I; MRSAI), EMRSA-16 (MRSAID, EMRSA-1 (MRSAIII) and wild-type MSSA. See additional sequence information provided below.

Primer Sequences

Human Locus ApoB (Product Size Experiment SI):

(SEQ ID NO: 12) Apo700 tggtaaacgg aagtctggca gggtgattct cg (SEQ ID NO: 13) Apo800 caattgtgtg tgagatgtgg ggaagctgga at (SEQ ID NO: 14) Apo900 gaggtggttc cattccctat gtcagcattt gc (SEQ ID NO: 15) Apo1000 gggtttgaga gttgtgcatt tgcttgaaaa tc Human Loci for STR Markers (STR Experiment and Primer Size Experiment, SI):

CSF1PO (SEQ ID NO: 16) 5′ gttgctaacc accctgtgtc tcagttttcc tac CSF1PO (SEQ ID NO: 17) 3′ agactcttcc acacaccact ggccatcttc agc D7S820 (SEQ ID NO: 18) 5′ gaacacttgt catagtttag aacgaactaa cg D7S820 (SEQ ID NO: 19) 3′ gaattataac gattccacat ttatcctcat tgac D13S317 (SEQ ID NO: 20) 5′ ttgctggaca tggtatcaca gaagtctggg atg D13S317 (SEQ ID NO: 21) 3′ ccataggcag cccaaaaaga cagacagaaa ga  D16S539 (SEQ ID NO: 22) 5′ aaacaaaggc agatcccaag ctcttcctct tcc D16S539 (SEQ ID NO: 23) 5′ ataccattta cgtttgtgtg tgcatctgta agc D18S51 (SEQ ID NO: 24) 5′ ggtggacatg ttggcttctc tctgttctta ac D18S51 (SEQ ID NO: 25) 3′ ggtggcacgt gcctgtagtc tcagctactt gc   THO1 (SEQ ID NO: 26) 5′ tacacagggc ttccggtgca ggtcacaggg a THO1 (SEQ ID NO: 27) 3′ ccttcccagg ctctagcagc agctcatggt gg TPOX (SEQ ID NO: 28) 5′ actggcacag aacaggcact tagggaaccc TPOX (SEQ ID NO: 29) 3′ ggaggaactg ggaaccacac aggttaatta Human Loci ApoB, D18S51 and Sry (Primer Size Experiment, SI):

APOB500 (SEQ ID NO: 30) atggtaaatt ctggtgtgaa aaacctggat gg APO500-28 (SEQ ID NO: 31) taaattctgg tgtggaaaac ctggatgg APO500-25 (SEQ ID NO: 32) attctggtgt ggaaaacctg gatgg APBO300REV (SEQ ID NO: 33) ctatccaaga ttgggctaaa cgtatgaaag ca APOB300REV-28 (SEQ ID NO: 34) ccaagattgg gctaaacgta tgaaagca APOB300REV-25 (SEQ ID NO: 35) agattgggct aaacgtatga aagca D18S51 5′-28 (SEQ ID NO: 36) gacatgttgg cttctctctg ttcttaac D18S51 5′-25 (SEQ ID NO: 37) atgttggctt ctctctgttc ttaac D18S51 3′-28 (SEQ ID NO: 38) gcacgtgcct gtagtctcag ctacttgc D18S51 3′-25 (SEQ ID NO: 39) cgtgcctgta gtctcagcta cttgc SRY3 (SEQ ID NO: 40) aaagctgtaa ctctaagtat cagtgtgaaa c SYR3-28 (SEQ ID NO: 41) gctgtaactc taagtatcag tgtgaaac SRY3-25 (SEQ ID NO: 42) gtaactctaa gtatcagtgt gaaac SRY4 (SEQ ID NO: 43) gttgtccagt tgcacttcgc tgcagagtac c SRY4-28 (SEQ ID NO: 44) gtccagttgc acttcgctgc agagtacc SRY4-25 (SEQ ID NO: 45) cagttgcact tcgctgcaga gtacc

BsA1 (SEQ ID NO: 46) ttgggcactt ggatatgatg gaactggcac BsA1-36 (SEQ ID NO: 47) ttgggcactt ggatatgatg gaactggcac ggttgt BsA1-40 (SEQ ID NO: 48) ttgggcactt ggatatgatg gaactggcac ggttgttgcg BsA1-45 (SEQ ID NO: 49) ttgggcactt ggatatgatg gaactggcac ggttgttgcg tccat BsB3 (SEQ ID NO: 50) ccatcttcag agaacgcttt aacagcaatc c BsB3-36 (SEQ ID NO: 51) cgccatcttc agagaacgct ttaacagcaa tccatt BsB3-40 (SEQ ID NO: 52) cgccatcttc agagaacgct ttaacagcaa tccattttgc BsB3-45 (SEQ ID NO: 53) cgccatcttc agagaacgct ttaacagcaa tccattttgc gccag ApoB4 (SEQ ID NO: 54) cagtgtatct ggaaagccta caggacacca aaa ApoB4-40 (SEQ ID NO: 55) cagtgtatct ggaaagccta caggacacca aaataacctt ApoB4-45 (SEQ ID NO: 56) cagtgtatct ggaaagccta caggacacca aaataacctt aatca Apo300 (SEQ ID NO: 57) tgctttcata cgtttagccc aatcttggat ag Apo300-40 (SEQ ID NO: 58) tgctttcata cgtttagccc aatcttggat agaatattgc Apo300-45 (SEQ ID NO: 59) tgctttcata cgtttagccc aatcttggat agaatattgc tctgc SRY8 (SEQ ID NO: 60) ccagctgtgc aagagaatat tcccgctctc cg SYR9 (SEQ ID NO: 61) cctgttgtcc agttgcactt cgctgcagag t J1 (SEQ ID NO: 62) acggcattaa caaacgaact gattcatctg cttgg K2 (SEQ ID NO: 63) ccttaatttc tccgagaact tcatattcaa gcgtc NfoI probe (SEQ ID NO: 64) 5′-catgattgga tgaataagct gcagc-[dTfluorescein]- g-[tetrahydrofuranyl]-t-[dT-DDQ1]-aaaggaaact ta-dRbiotin-3′ ORFX45-b (SEQ ID NO: 65) ccaagaattg aaccaacgca tgacccaagg gcaaagcgac tttgt ORFXprobe2 (SEQ ID NO: 66) 5′-(FAM)-CCACATCAAATGATGCGGGTTGTGTTAAT-[d- SPACER]-GAACAAGTGTACAGAG-3′ddC (block) SATamra1 (SEQ ID NO: 67) 5′-tgttaattga acaagtgtac agagcatt-[dT tamra] a(THF)ga(BHQ1)tatgcgtgga g-Biotin-3′ SATamra2 (SEQ ID NO: 68) 5′-tgttaattga gcaagtgtat agagcatt (dT tamra]) a(THF)ga(BHQ2)tatgcgtgga g-Biotin-3′ BSFlc (SEQ ID NO: 69) 5′-catgattgga tgaataagct gcagc (F)g(H)t(q3) aaaggaaact ta-Biotin-3′ Sequence of MSSA and MRSA Alleles and Primers Used Here:

Primer target sites are bold/underlined, probe binding site is in bold/italic.

MRSA/MSSA Primers (S. aureus Experiment):

SCCI/II (SEQ ID NO: 70) ctcaaagcta gaactttgct tcactataag tattc SCCIII (SEQ ID NO: 71) ccaatatttc atatatgtaa ttcctccaca tctca ORFX (SEQ ID NO: 72) cccaagggca aagcgacttt gtattcgtca ttggcggatc aaacg MSSA (SEQ ID NO: 73) ccaatttgat agggcctaat ttcaactgtt agcta sccII-35-2-bio (SEQ ID NO: 74) 5′-bio-ctatgtcaaa aatcatgaac ctcattactt atgat MSSA DNA Sequence:

(SEQ ID NO: 75) ttttagatat aaa ccaattt gatagggcct aatttcaact gttagcta ct acttaagtta tatgcgcaat tatcgtgata tatcttatat attgaatgaa cgtggattta atgtccacca tttaacaccc tccaaattat tatctcctca tacagaattt tttagtttta cttatgatac gcc

 

c aacccgcatc atttgatgtg ggaatgtcat tttgctgaat gatagtgcgt agttactgcg ttgtaagacg tccttgtgca ggc cgtttga tccgccaatg acgaatacaa agtcgctttg   cccttggg tc atcgc MRSAI DNA Sequence:

(SEQ ID NO: 76) tttagttgcagaaagaatttt ctcaaagctagaactttgcttcact ataagtatt cagtataaagaatatttcgctattatttacttgaaat gaaagactgcggaggctaactatgtcaaaaatcatgaacctcatta cttatgataagctt

caacccgcatcatttgatgtgggaatgtcatt ttgctgaatgatagtgcgtagttactgcgttgtaagacgtccttgt gcaggc cgtttgatccgccaatgacgaatacaaagtcgctttgccc ttgggtcatgcg MRSAII DNA Sequence:

(SEQ ID NO: 77) tttagttgcagaaagaatttt ctcaaagctagaactttgcttcact ataagtattcagt ataaagaatatttcgctattatttacttgaaat gaaagactgcggaggctaactatgtcaaaaatcatgaacctcatta cttatgataagcttcttaaaaacataacagcaattcacataaacct catatgttctgatacattcaaaatccctttatgaagcggctgaaaa aaccgcatcatttatgatatgctt

caacccgcatcatttgatg tgggaatgtcattttgctgaatgatagtgcgtagttactgcgttgt aagacgtccttgtgcaggc cgtttgatccgccaatgacgaatacaa agt cgctttgcccttggg tcatgcg MRSAIII DNA Sequence:

(SEQ ID NO: 78) aaggtataat ccaatatttcatatatgtaattcctccacatctca t taaatttttaaattatacacaacctaatttttagttttatttatga tacgctt

caacccgcatcatttgatgtgggaatgtcatttt gctgaatgatagtgcgtagttactgcgttgtaagacgtccttgtgc aggc cgtttgatccgccaatgacgaatacaaagtcgctttgccctt ggg tcatgct

Example 2 Kinetics of an RPA Reaction

A schematic of the RPA process is shown in FIG. 12A. Recombinase/primer filaments scan template DNA for homologous sequences (red/blue). Following strand exchange the displaced strand is bound by gp32 (green), primers are extended by Bsu polymerase (blue). Repeated binding/extension events of opposing primers result in exponential DNA amplification.

The kinetics of recombinase/primer filament formation is shown in FIG. 12B. In the presence of ATP uvsX (grey) binds cooperatively to oligonucleotides (red, top). Upon ATP hydrolysis the nucleoprotein complex disassembles (left) and uvsX can be replaced by gp32 (green, right). The presence of uvsY and Carbowax20M shifts the equilibrium in favor of recombinase loading.

The result of a typical RPA reaction is shown in FIG. 12C which is a PAGE of RPA reactions using primers for STR markers. Genomic DNA from two individuals (1/2, father/son) served as template. Occasionally (D7S820, D16S539), low-level amounts of dimeric forms of full-length product can be observed (asterisks).

The ability to monitor RPA reaction in real time is shown in FIG. 12D. In FIG. 12D, a real-time RPA using primers for the B. subtilis SpoB locus was monitored by monitoring the fluorescence of a reaction. Fluorescence upon intercalation of SybrGreenI into nascent product is detected. B. subtilis DNA at 5×10⁵ (black), 5×10⁴ (red), 5×10³ (yellow), 500 (green) or 50 copies (purple) or water (blue) served as template. The onset of amplification depends linearly on the logarithm of the starting template copy number (see inset; time (midpoint of growth curve) versus log [template concentration]).

Example 3 Detection of RPA Amplicons Using Lateral Flow Strips

We devised a method of using lateral-flow-strip technology for the detection of RPA amplicon. This method uses specific antibodies to immobilize and detect complexes containing two antigenic labels (FIG. 13A). Briefly, a target nucleic acid is amplified using two different oligonucleotide primers, wherein each primer comprises a different label or antigen. Thus, all generated amplicons would be linked to two labels or antigens (i.e., a double labeled amplicon).

To detect the presences of the double labeled amplicons, samples suspected of containing the amplicons a pad soaked in visible (gold) particles coupled to an antibody recognizing one of the two labels (in this case, the label is an antigen) (FIG. 13C). The complexes then travel in a buffer stream through the membrane and an additional, immobilized antibody captures the second antigen (Id.). If the antigens are conjoined in a DNA duplex, a colored line appears at a defined location on the strip. In a variation of our probe detection system we produced such dual antigen complexes by coupling Biotin- and FAM-bearing oligonucleotides in RPA amplicons (FIG. 3B). The 5′-biotinylated primer and its opposing counterpart ensure the efficient amplification of a target for probe binding. The probe, including a 5′-FAM label, an internal THF and a 3′-blocking group, is incised by Nfo upon binding, creating a 3′OH substrate for elongation by Bsu. The extension of the probe remnant stabilizes its interaction with the Biotin-labeled strand and produces an amplicon that contains both, Biotin and FAM. The THF/3′ block prevents the production of Biotin/FAM containing primer artifacts, as processing of bona fide duplexes by Nfo adds a critical proofreading step. After application of the sample to the lateral-flow-strip Biotin/FAM-amplicons will create a visible signal on the FAM detection line, while RPA reactions that fail to generate a conjoined complex will not. We used a multiplex approach similar to the one employed in FIG. 10E to detect 10 copies of each of the three MRSA alleles and distinguish them from MSSA (FIG. 3C).

A number of research and clinical applications could benefit from employing RPA and the various detection methods disclosed herein. For example, RPA offers a significant breakthrough for the development of non-laboratory devices. When integrated with handheld instruments or entirely equipment free DNA detection systems, RPA will enable an easy-to-use testing system for a variety of pathogens as well as field kits for other applications.

Materials and Methods

Proteins and DNA

Coding sequences for uvsx, uvsy, gp32, Bsu and Nfo were amplified from genomic DNA (DSMZ, Germany), fused to hexahistidine-tags (SEQ ID NO:92) (N-terminal for uvsY, Bsu and Nfo, C-terminal for uvsX and gp32) and cloned into suitable expression vectors. Overexpression and purification was done by standard protocols using Nickel-NTA resin (Qiagen).

Human DNA was purified from blood (Wizard-Genomic-purification-kit, Promega), B. subtilis DNA was from ATCC (USA), S. aureus DNAs were a gift from Jodi Lindsay. S. aureus alleles were EMRSA-3 (SCCmec type I; MRSAI), EMRSA-16 (MRSAII), EMRSA-1 (MRSAIII) and wild-type MSSA (12). See supplementary information for sequences.

RPA Conditions

Reactions were performed at 37° C. for 60 min or as indicated. Standard conditions were 50 mM Tris (pH 8.4), 80 mM Potassium-acetate, 10 mM Magnesium-acetate, 2 mM DTT, 5% Carbowax20M, 200 μM dNTPs, 3 mM ATP, 20 mM Phosphocreatine, 100 ng/μl Creatine-kinase, 20 ng/μl Bsu. In contrast, MRSA amplifications were done at 50 mM Tris (pH 7.9), 100 mM Potassium-acetate, 14 mM Magnesium-acetate; in the multiplex experiment Carbowax20M was at 5.5%. Concentrations of gp32/uxsX/uvsY (in ng/ul) were 600/200/60 (STR experiment), 600/120/30 (B. subtilis experiment) or 900/120/30 (MRSA experiments). Primers were employed at 300 nM each, except in MRSA amplification, where 500 nM sccIII, 100 nM orfX (MRSAIII experiment) or 265 nM sccI/II, 265 nM sccIII, 70 nM orfX (multiplex experiment) or 240 nM BiosccI/II, 240 nM Bio-sccIII, 120 nM orfX (lateral-flow-strip experiment) have been used. Reaction volumes were 20 μl, except for the STR experiment (40 μl) and the B. subtilis experiment (50 μl).

Real-Time Monitoring

Real-time RPA was performed in a plate-reader (BioTek Flx-800) in the presence of SybrGreenl (1:50000, Molecular Probes) or fluorophore/quencher probes (Eurogentec). Three probes were employed:

SATamra1 5′-tgttaattgaacaagtgtacagagcatt(T)a(H)ga(q1)tat gcgtggag-Biotin-3′ SATamra2 5′-tgttaattgagcaagtgtatagagcatt(T)a(H)ga(q2)tat gcgtggag-Biotin-3′ BSFlc 5′-catgattggatgaataagctgcagc(F)g(H)t(q3)aaaggaa actta-Biotin-3′

Here (T) is dT-TAMRA, (F) is dT-Fluorescein, (H) is THF, (q1) is dT-BHQ1, (q2) is dT-BHQ2, (q3) is dT-DDQ1. Probes were employed at 60 nM SATamra1 (MRSAIII experiment) or at 45 nM SATamra1, 45 nM SATamra2, 60 nM BSFlc (multiplex experiment). Nfo was used at 200 ng/ul. Excitation/detection was at 485/525 nm (SybrGreenI, BSFlc) or 530/575 nm (SATamra1/2). Measurements were taken every 30 sec or 45 sec (multiplex experiment). Fluorescence probe data were normalised against water control and pre-amplification baseline adjusted. The logarithm of the read-out was plotted against reaction time.

Lateral-Flow-Strip Detection

For lateral-flow-strip experiments two probes were used at 75 nM each:

Lfs1 5′FAM-ccacatcaaatgatgcgggttgtgttaat(H)gaac aagtgtacagag-ddC-3′ Lfs2 5′FAM-ccacatcaaatgatgcgggttgtgttaat(H)gagcaagtg tatgag-ddC-3′

5′-biotinylated forms of sccI/II and sccIII were utilised as primers. For each reaction (20 ul) 1 ul was diluted with 5 ul running buffer (PBS/3% Tween) and applied directly to HybriDetect-strips (Milenia) according to manufacturer instructions.

The result of the lateral flow strip detection is shown in FIG. 13C. Reactions contained (left to right) 10 copies MRSAIII, 10 copies MRSAII, 10 copies MRSAI or 10000 copies MSSA (negative control) as template. Positive signals are generated in the first 3 reactions (arrowhead).

Example 4 Analysis of Optimal Conditions for RPA

RPA Conditions

RPA relies on the establishment of a reaction environment that support the formation of recombinase-oligonucleotide complexes. Since the process is also ATPdependent (Formosa et al., 1986), it requires an energy regeneration system for sustained activity. In this experiment, we titrated key components of the RPA reaction mixture in order to determine their influence on amplification performance. The results are shown in FIG. 14. FIG. 14 shows polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of RPA reactions using primers for the human Sry locus. Reactions were performed at 37° C. for 120 min and contained the primers sry3 and sry4 at 300 nM, 50 mM Tris (pH 8.4), 80 mM Potassium-acetate, 10 mM Magnesium-acetate, 2 mM DTT, 3 mM ATP, 200 μM dNTPs, 20 mM Phosphocreatine, 100 ng/μl Creatine-kinase, 5% Carbowax20M, 600 ng/μl gp32, 200 ng/μl uvsX, 60 ng/μl uvsY and 20 ng/μl Bsu, except when a given component was that under investigation. Optimal quantities of (FIG. 14 A) gp32, (FIG. 14 B) uvsY, (FIG. 14 C) uvsX, (FIG. 14 D) Carbowax20M, (FIG. 14 E) ATP and (FIG. 14 F) Bsu for effective amplification of this particular target were determined. (G) ADP-®-S and (H) ATP-©-S inhibit the reactions. 1500 copies/μl of the human Y-chromosomal DNA served as template in 30 ul reactions (per sample the equivalent of 10 ul reaction volume was loaded on the gel).

RPA proved to work robustly over a relatively wide range of reagent concentrations. We found, however, that optimal reaction conditions varied between different primer pairs and therefore had to be defined individually.

Primer Requirements

We used RPA to amplify of a wide range of targets. While the design of primers revealed no limitations on sequence composition itself, certain parameters have to be met for an oligonucleotide to be suitable for RPA. We investigated these parameters in the experiments shown in FIG. 15. FIG. 15 shows agarose gel electrophoresis of RPA reactions using primers for the human Apolipoprotein B locus. Primer ApoB4 was combined with opposing primers capable of generating products of the indicated sizes. Reactions were performed at 37° C. for 120 min and conditions used were 50 mM Tris (pH 8.4), 80 mM Potassiumacetate, 10 mM Magnesium-acetate, 2 mM DTT, 3 mM ATP, 200 μM dNTPs, 20 mM Phosphocreatine, 100 ng/μl Creatine-kinase, 5% Carbowax20M, 600 ng/μl gp32, 125 ng/μl uvsX, 25 ng/μl uvsY, and 20 ng/μl Bsu. 450 copies of human DNA were used as template in 30 μl reactions (per sample the equivalent of 10 ul reaction volume was loaded on the gel). Note that some hairpin-mediated product duplication occurred, converting some of the 300 bp amplicon to 2× and 3× unit length (*). RPA failed to produce amplicons of 1500 bp or more. This experiment shows that amplicon size under the conditions employed is limited to approximately 1 kb.

Shown is polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of RPA reactions using primers for the three independent loci in human genomic DNA (Apolipoprotein B, STR D18S51, Sry). Primers were 25, 28, or >31 bases, as indicated. Reactions were performed at 37° C. for 120 min. Conditions used were 50 mM Tris/C1 pH 8.4, 80 mM Potassium acetate, 10 mM Magnesium-acetate, 2 mM DTT, 3 mM ATP, 200 μM dNTPs, 20 mM Phosphocreatine, 100 ng/μl Creatine kinase, 5% Carbowax20M, 600 ng/μl gp32, 200 ng/μl uvsX and 60 ng/μl uvsY, and 20 ng/μl Bsu polymerase. 3000 copies of target served as template in 30 ul reactions (per sample the equivalent of 10 ul reaction volume was loaded on the gel). The finding that a primer length of >28 bases is required to support RPA is in good agreement with reports that investigated the ATP hydrolysis activity of uvsX-oligonucleotide filaments at different oligonucleotide sizes (See, Huletsky et al., 2004).

The minimum length of a primer proved to be about 30 nucleotides (FIG. 16). We observed variability in the performance of oligonucleotides that differ in sequences but are similar in length and position relative to their counterpart. The rules governing the influence of nucleotide sequence on the quality of a particular RPA primer are currently under investigation.

Control DNA

The wild-type S. aureus DNA (MSSA) (See, Enright et al., 2002; Huletsky et al., 2004) serving as a negative control in the experiment shown in 2C does act as a template for RPA when combined with the primer pair orfX/mssa (FIG. 16).

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The invention claimed is:
 1. A process comprising: (a) contacting a recombinase agent with a first and a second nucleic acid primer and a third extension blocked primer which comprises a noncomplementary or modified internal residue to form a first, second and third nucleoprotein primer; (b) contacting the first and second nucleoprotein primers to a double stranded target nucleic acid comprising a first and second strand, thereby forming a first double stranded structure between said first nucleoprotein primer and said first strand at a first portion of said first strand and a second double stranded structure between said second nucleoprotein primer and said second strand at a second portion of said second strand such that the 3′ ends of said first nucleoprotein primer and said second nucleoprotein primer are oriented toward each other on the same target nucleic acid with a third portion of target nucleic acid between said 3′ ends; (c) extending the 3′ end of said first nucleoprotein primer and second nucleoprotein primer with one or more polymerases and dNTPs to generate an amplified target nucleic acid with an internal region comprising the third portion of nucleic acid; and (d) contacting said amplified target nucleic acid to said third nucleoprotein primer to form a third double stranded structure at the third portion of said amplified target nucleic acid in the presence of a nuclease; wherein said nuclease specifically cleaves said noncomplementary or modified internal residue only after the formation of said third double stranded structure to form a third 5′ primer double stranded structure and a third 3′ extension blocked primer double stranded structure.
 2. The process of claim 1 wherein the first double stranded structure is part of a first D-loop and wherein said second double stranded structure is part of a second D-loop.
 3. The process of claim 1 wherein said nuclease is a DNA glycosylase or AP endonuclease.
 4. The process of claim 1 wherein said modified internal residue is a uracil or inosine residue.
 5. The process of claim 4 wherein the nuclease recognizes the uracil or inosine residue and cleaves said third extension blocked primer at the uracil or inosine residue.
 6. The process of claim 1 wherein the nuclease recognizes a base mismatch between the noncomplementary base of said third extension blocked primer and said target nucleic acid and cleaves said third extension blocked primer at said noncomplementary base.
 7. The process of claim 1 wherein said nuclease is selected from the group consisting of fpg, Nth, MutY, MutS, MutM, E. coli MUG, human MUG, human Ogg1, vertebrate Nei-like (Neil) glycosylases, uracil glycosylase, hypoxanthine-DNA glycosylase, and functional analogs thereof.
 8. The process of claim 1 wherein said nuclease is E. coli Nfo or E. coli exonuclease III and wherein the modified residue is a tetrahydrofuran residue or carbon linker.
 9. The process of claim 1 wherein the modified internal base is selected from the group consisting of 8-oxoguanine, thymine glycol, and an abasic site mimic.
 10. The process of claim 9 wherein the abasic site mimic is a tetrahydrofuran residue or D-spacer.
 11. The process of claim 1 wherein said third extension blocked primer comprises a blocked 3′ residue which is resistant to extension by DNA polymerase.
 12. The process of claim 1 wherein the third extension blocked primer further comprises one or more detectable labels.
 13. The process of claim 12 wherein said process further comprises detecting said detectable label on the third extension blocked primer.
 14. The process of claim 12 wherein said detectable label is selected from the group consisting of a fluorophore, an enzyme, a quencher, an enzyme inhibitor, a radioactive label, one member of a binding pair and a combination thereof.
 15. The process of claim 14 in which the fluorophore is attached to the third extension blocked primer by a fluorophore-dT residue.
 16. The process of claim 14 in which the quencher is attached to the third extension blocked primer by a quencher-dT residue.
 17. The process of claim 14 wherein said third extension blocked primer comprises a fluorophore and a quencher.
 18. The process of claim 17 wherein said fluorophore and quencher are separated by between 0 to 2 bases.
 19. The process of claim 17 wherein said fluorophore and quencher are separated by between 0 to 5 bases.
 20. The process of claim 17 wherein said fluorophore and quencher are separated by between 0 to 8 bases.
 21. The process of claim 17 wherein said fluorophore and quencher are separated by between 0 to 10 bases.
 22. The process of claim 17 wherein said fluorophore and quencher are separated by a greater distance when the extension blocked primer is unhybridized than when the extension blocked primer is hybridized to the target nucleic acid.
 23. The process of claim 17 wherein the fluorophore or the quencher is attached to the noncomplementary or modified internal residue and wherein the fluorophore and quencher are separated following cleavage of the modified internal base by the nuclease.
 24. The process of claim 17 in which the fluorophore is selected from the group of fluorescein, FAM, TAMRA.
 25. The process of claim 17 in which the quencher is a dark quencher.
 26. The process of claim 25 wherein said dark quencher is selected from the group consisting of Dark Quencher 1, Dark Quencher 2, Black Hole Quencher 1 and Black Hole Quencher
 2. 27. The process of claim 1 wherein the first primer, second primer or third extension blocked primer is 12 to 30 residues in length.
 28. The process of claim 1 wherein the first primer, second primer or third extension blocked primer is 12 to 40 residues in length.
 29. The process of claim 1 wherein the first primer, second primer or third extension blocked primer is 12 to 60 residues in length.
 30. The process of claim 1 wherein said process is performed at a temperature of between 14° C. and 21° C.
 31. The process of claim 1 wherein said process is performed at a temperature of between 21° C. and 25° C.
 32. The process of claim 1 wherein said process is performed at a temperature of between 25° C. and 30° C.
 33. The process of claim 1 wherein said process is performed at a temperature of between 30° C. and 37° C.
 34. The process of claim 1 wherein said process is performed at a temperature of between 40° C. and 43° C.
 35. The process of claim 1 wherein said process amplifies at least the third portion of said target nucleic acid at least 10⁷ fold.
 36. The process of claim 1 wherein said process is performed in the presence of 1% to 12% PEG.
 37. The process of claim 1 wherein said process is performed in the presence of 6% to 8% PEG.
 38. A method, comprising performing more than one recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) process in one reaction, wherein each RPA process comprises: (a) contacting a recombinase agent with a first and a second nucleic acid primer and a third extension blocked primer which comprises a noncomplementary or modified internal residue to form a first, second and third nucleoprotein primer; (b) contacting the first and second nucleoprotein primers to a double stranded target nucleic acid comprising a first and a second strand, thereby forming a first double stranded structure between said first nucleoprotein primer and said first strand of DNA at a first portion of said first strand and a second double stranded structure between said second nucleoprotein primer and said second strand of DNA at a second portion of said second strand such that the 3′ ends of said first nucleoprotein primer and said second nucleoprotein primer are oriented toward each other on the same target nucleic acid molecule with a third portion of target nucleic acid between said 3′ ends; (c) extending the 3′ end of said first nucleoprotein primer and second nucleoprotein primer with one or more polymerases and dNTPs to generate an amplified target nucleic acid with an internal region comprising the third portion of nucleic acid; and (d) contacting said amplified target nucleic acid to said third nucleoprotein primer to form a third double stranded structure at the third portion of said amplified target nucleic acid in the presence of a nuclease; wherein said nuclease specifically cleaves said noncomplementary or modified internal residue only after the formation of said third double stranded structure to form a third 5′ primer double stranded structure and a third 3′ extension blocked primer double stranded structure.
 39. The method of claim 38, wherein the method comprises at least 3 separate RPA processes.
 40. The method of claim 38, wherein the method comprises at least 4 separate RPA processes.
 41. The method of claim 38, wherein the method comprises at least 5 separate RPA processes.
 42. The method of claim 38, wherein the method comprises at least 7 separate RPA processes.
 43. The method of claim 38, wherein the method comprises at Least 10 separate RPA processes.
 44. The method of claim 38, wherein said modified internal residue is a uracil or inosine residue.
 45. The method of claim 38, wherein said nuclease is a DNA glycosylase or AP endonuclease.
 46. The method of claim 38, wherein the nuclease recognizes a base mismatch between the noncomplementary base of said third extension blocked primer and said target nucleic acid and cleaves said third extension blocked primer at said noncomplementary base.
 47. The method of claim 38 wherein said nuclease is selected from the group consisting of fpg, Nth, MutY, MutS, MutM, E. coli MUG, human MUG, human Oggl, vertebrate Nei-like (Neil) glycosylases, uracil glycosylase, hypoxanthine-DNA glycosylase, and functional analogs thereof.
 48. The method of claim 38, wherein said nuclease is E. coli Nfo or E. coli exonuclease III and wherein the modified residue is a tetrahydrofuran residue or carbon linker.
 49. The method of claim 38, wherein the modified internal base is selected from the group consisting of 8-oxoguanine, thymine glycol, and an abasic site mimic.
 50. The method of claim 49, wherein the abasic site mimic is a tetrahydrofuran residue or D-spacer.
 51. The method of claim 50, wherein the abasic site mimic is a tetrahydrofuran residue. 